Choices
by Necrophobia
Summary: Fang meets Max at hospital. Beautiful, witty, cheerful. Everything he isn't. There's just one problem - she has cancer.
1. The vending machine

**The vending machine**

She was kicking a vending machine when he met her. He had been walking through the blindingly white halls of the local hospital, avoiding his mum when he heard a great banging echoing down the corridor.

Curious, he walked towards the sound to find a teenage girl (about his age) kicking a vending machine with such gusto that it sent her brown curls flying around her face.

She was so enthused, in fact, that she did not notice him standing next to her.

After a few moments (and a particularly jarring kick to the machine and grunt from the girl) he cleared his throat.

"Hey, uh,"

She did not appear to hear him however, and continued to beat up the machine.

"Uh, excuse me," he said a little louder, moving closer to her.

When she still gave no reply, he tried again. "OI, LADY!"

She paused in mid kick and turned to face him, her chocolate brown eyes wide, her lips slightly parted.

"Huh?" she said, dazed at how close the boy had gotten without her noticing.

"What're you doing?" he asked.

"Oh. I want a Coke." She said, as if it were obvious.

"And you're kicking the vending machine, why?" he asked, raising his eyebrow.

She sighed, irritated. "Because the damn machine is jammed. I put two bucks in there and I didn't get my Coke, so either one's gotta budge if I kick it long enough, won't it?"

"Why can't you just except defeat like a normal person would, and walk away?" he asked, smirking.

She scowled, "Because then the vending machine would win. I can't let that happen." She shuddered at the thought.

"Let me try." He suggested.

She scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Yeah right, like a scrawny boy like you could possibly manage to out kick me. Puh-lease."

"Watch me." He grinned. "May I?" he gestured towards the vending machine.

She rolled her eyes but moved aside all the same.

He stepped towards the machine and inspected it for a moment before banging the coin slot with his fist.

It rattled and the sound of metal clanging against the machine's insides clattered noisily.

A moment later, a can of Coke appeared out the slot of the machine. He bent down and picked it up, handing it to her, grinning triumphantly.

She scowled, but took the can all the same. "I loosened it up for you," she mumbled, avoiding his gaze.

"Sure, sure," he said mockingly, "and I'm a mutant bird kid who lives in an E-shaped house."

He chuckled as her scowl deepened. She looked cute when she was pissed off.

"So, am I gonna get a thank you? Any sign of gratitude for performing this life changing act?"

"Fine," she said through clenched teeth. She looked at her shoes and mumbled something inaudible.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that." He said, cupping a hand around his ear and turning his head so that his ear was facing her. "Could you repeat that please?"

"Thank you," she said a little louder.

"Pardon?"

"THANK YOU!" she roared, her voice resonating throughout the corridors.

Her cheeks reddened as she realized how loudly she had spoken.

"There, that wasn't so bad, now was it?" he said, sarcastically.

"Whatevs," she said, popping the can of Coke open and drinking deeply from it for several moments.

"Aaaaah!" she exclaimed, wiping her mouth with the back of her sleeve. "That's the stuff."

She looked back at him, "You know, I feel kinda bad that you helped me and all. Hey, you know what I'm gonna do? Since I'm an awesome, selfless, generous, thoughtful person and all, (he snorted here, but she ignored him) I'll buy you a drink. _On me._ How does that sound, huh?"

"Wow. Sacrificing two whole dollars on moi? I will forever be in your debt." He rolled his eyes, "I think I'll pass on that one."

"Oh, come on. Just take it. It's the least I can do, I mean, if it wasn't for you, that dratted vending machine would have beaten me and I would have forever been burdened with the shame. Just think! Not being able to walk past a vending machine again without it reminding me of how I lost my pride." The pitch of her voice had risen in a steady crescendo of mock hysteria.

"Fine. I'll take one." He rolled his eyes again as she handed him a coin. "Jeez, woman. You're so persistent." He slid the coin in and pressed a button.

"You know it, bro." she said, but smiled all the same.

The can clanked down to the slot and he started to reach down to get it.

"Here, I'll get it for you." She bent down quicker and grabbed the can. "Diet Coke? What are you, a girl?" she asked, handing it to him.

"I didn't ask you to comment on my choice of beverage." He said, scowling, "If I choose chemicals over calories, I don't see why that's any of your business."

"Urrgh, don't even get me started on that. The girls in my ward are all anoriexic bitches – won't shut up about calories and fat and omigosh are there calories in toothpaste and blah blah blah. Lissa woke me up at three in the morning doing star jumps!" she ranted, her eyes flaming, "And the other day, Brigid was arguing with the nurse about how the smell of my waffles was giving her unwanted calories and how I should have to eat in the next room. Gosh! So annoying. I can't wait to get out of this place."

"Wait, so you're a patient here?" he asked, surprised.

"Yeah, see?" she said, lifting her sleeve to reveal a plastic hospital bracelet.

"Oh, so what are you in here? You don't have anore-"

"Eww, no! I'm only roommates with those skinny-ass girls cos we're around the same age. But personally, I'd rather bunk with the littlies. So cute!"

"So, uh what _are _you in for?"

"Oh, I've got a case of the ol' chronic lymphoid leukemia."

"Uh, what?"

"Well basically, some cells in my bone marrow went crazy and bred like rabbits, and now my healthy cells are getting crowded out."

"Huh?"

She rolled her eyes, "Dude, I've got cancer."

"Oh. Um, I'm sorry?"

"Nah, don't be. Even though I had to move away from my hometown so I could live near an actual hospital, leaving behind all my friends and most of my family doesn't mean that I should think negatively." She said, smiling. "I gotta stay positive! I'm really quite lucky. And I might be going into remission soon so I'll be able to go to school, instead of doing endless amounts of homework from the internet."

"Maybe you'll come to my school." He said hopefully, trying not to look desperate (_she _didn't have to know that he didn't have any friends and that he was the school loner).

"Yeah, maybe." She grinned. "What school –"

"MAXINE RIDE! PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR ROOM. YOU HAVE A BLOOD TEST. MAXINE RIDE!" A speaker crackled from the ceiling, echoing loudly.

"Oops," she said, hitting her forehead, "forgot about that one. Catch you later, yeah?" she said, running down the corridor.

"Okay, see ya." He said, though his heart sank terribly because he knew chances were he'd never see her again.

"Hey, what was your name again?" she paused at the end of the corridor, shouting so he could hear her.

"I didn't give it." He shouted back, then hesitated, wondering what she'd think about him. "It's Fang." He said finally, wincing in preparation for her laugh. But it never came.

"Cool," she shouted. "I'm Max –"

"MAXINE RIDE! I REPEAT! PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR ROOM. YOU HAVE A BLOOD TEST! MAXINE RIDE!"

"Whoops! Gotta run. See ya, Fang! Thanks for the Coke!" And with that, she turned a corner, her brown curls flying out behind her.

"See you, Max." Fang said quietly, but she was already long gone.

* * *

><p><strong>Dear reader,<strong>

**The plot of this story is going to be sort of complicated; don't know if my head can manage it (probably will forget some important detail and mess it all up).**

**There are some issues I want to address with this story, but I don't know if I can do it well enough that it makes sense.**

**I'm going to try harder with this story, but please excuse me if I make any mistakes.**

**I'm not perfect.**

**Contrary to popular belief.**

**Sayonara,**

**Necrophobia :)**


	2. The girl in the dark brown wig

**The girl in the dark brown wig**

_Three weeks later . . ._

Fang adjusted his backpack on his lap and sighed out the window of the bus. Absentmindedly, he circled his wrist with his middle finger and thumb as he thought about another dreaded day of school.

He hated the kids who sneered and taunted him in the corridors. He hated when the teachers pulled him back after class to discuss his grades dropping at an alarming rate and asking if everything was alright at home.

But most of all, he hated the looks that people gave him. Pitying, almost fearful, empathic. Glad that no matter how bad their lives may seem, at least they weren't as messed up as _Fang. _Sympathetic, afraid. Almost as if to ask the silent question running through everyone's mind:

_"What happened to you? What have you become?"_

Some people looked at him as if to say, _"I know what you're going through. Don't worry; it gets better."_

But how could they possibly know what he was going through when he didn't even know himself.

He was jolted from his thoughts when the bus screeched to a stop outside hell, a.k.a high school.

Sighing, he mentally braced himself for yet another day at school, slung his backpack onto his shoulder and slouched out of the bus, taking his time in order to not arrive at school any sooner than need be.

Kids pushed past him along the bus aisle, laughing, gossiping, joking around him as if he were invisible. _I might as well be, _he thought dryly to himself, _maybe then people would miss me._

* * *

><p>14 . . . 27 . . . 3<p>

With a _click, _Fang's locker opened. He dumped his bag in and started gathering his books. He quickly glanced at his timetable.

Biology.

Great. Another class sitting alone at the back of the room, having to pair up with the teacher because no one wanted to be his partner dissecting various animals.

He slammed his locker shut and started to head off towards class – BANG.

Suddenly he was slammed into his locker side on, his books toppling to the ground. His shoulder began to ache dully.

Rubbing it, he turned around to see a tall burly boy with dark curls and piercing blue eyes sneer spitefully at him. _Dylan. _

"What's wrong, _Francesca_?" he spat, "Can't take a playful shove like a real man, huh? No wonder Ig dumped you – you're such a _pussy skinny-ass girl!"_

He slapped the strawberry-blond boy by his side on the back.

"Um, yeah. Right." Iggy muttered, looking away.

Fang glared at Dylan. "Just fuck off, alright?" he snarled. "I don't wanna see your _ugly face _anymore."

"Me? Ugly?" Dylan scoffed. "Have you _looked _in the mirror lately? You're one to talk."

He turned to Iggy. "Come on, Ig. Let's leave this dick to sulk in the girls' bathrooms." He started to walk away.

"Later, douche bag." He called over his shoulder.

Iggy looked pityingly at Fang for a moment and opened his mouth as if he were about to say something, but quickly closed it and hurried off to catch up with Dylan.

Sometimes Fang wished that Iggy would just taunt him and shove him around like Dylan did – it would be so much easier to hate him. But this – the silence and the pitying looks and all the apologies and arguments left unsaid – well, this was so much worse.

* * *

><p>Fang dumped his books onto the empty bench at the back of the biology lab and slumped into the seat.<p>

Giggling and chattering sounded around the room before the teacher swept into the room, scattering everyone into a mad dash to their seats.

He absentmindedly mumbled "here" when the roll was called and promptly continued to block out the drone of the teacher, doodling on his notebook. The clicking of the door opening jerked him out of his thoughts.

"Hi," said a familiar voice, though he couldn't quite place it. "Are you Mr. Fitzgerald?"

The teacher grunted in reply, ruffled at the interruption to his lecture.

Fang lifted his head only to find the brown haired girl he met at the hospital a few weeks ago standing at the front of the class.

"Hi! I'm Maxine Ride. But you can call me Max. I'm starting at this school today!" she held out her hand at Mr. Fitzgerald.

He stared at it as if it were some kind of slimy creature that you find on the underside of a rock. Her grin slid off her face and she lowered her hand.

"Thank you, _Miss Ride _for interrupting my class. Please take a seat." He gestured lazily towards the classroom and started talking again.

Max scanned the classroom for an empty seat, ignoring the whispers and stares, landing on the empty seat next to Fang, and finally on Fang himself. Her eyes widened in recognition and she grinned as she made her way towards him.

She dropped her books noisily onto the bench and scraped the chair up to her before plopping into it - Mr. Fitzgerald glared at her for making loud disturbances in his class before continuing his lecture.

"Hey, aren't you that kid I met at the hospital the other day?" she asked, though quietly so as not to disturb the teacher.

"Yeah." Fang muttered to the desk, continuing to doodle on his notebook. He didn't want to get his hopes up; why would a girl like her _possibly _want to be friends with a guy like him?

"Fang, right?"

"Yeah."

"I'm Ma-"

"I know."

"You don't speak much, do you?" she asked, raising her eyebrow at him.

He ignored her and kept doodling.

"Whatcha drawing?" she asked.

Fang attempted to cover it with an arm, but she had already ripped the notebook away from him. She looked at the drawing for a few moments before looking up at him, her eyes full of admiration.

"Woah, you're good at drawing. I wish I was that good." She said, giving the notebook back to him. "All I can draw are lame-ish cartoons of various of my elementary school teachers spontaneously bursting into flame."

"Uh, thanks? I guess." Fang said uncertainly.

They were silent for a while, Mr. Fitzgerald's monotone droning on, resonating dully in their ears.

"So, you're out of hospital now I take it?" Fang asked finally.

"Yeah," Max said happily. "I've been in remission for a week now. They just had to run some tests, but then I was good to go. I've just been slouching around my house for the past few days, bumming out my brother. But now I get to come to school! First time in almost a year!"

"Woah. That must be, uh interesting. School living up to your expectations so far?"

"Well, the form teacher was nice," Max said thoughtfully, "but I could do without _this one." _She gestured towards Mr. Fitzgerald and wrinkled her nose.

Fang paused before asking Max something he had been wondering about. "Hey uh don't take this the wrong way but, aren't people with cancer _bald?"_

"Oh that. Well I _did _used to have very little hair but it's growing back now. See?" She grabbed her long brown locks and tugged until they came off to reveal short, slightly lighter brown tufts of hair growing out unevenly around her head.

_She still looks beautiful. _A rouge thought ran through Fang's mind.

"Woah," Fang said, staring at her hair. "I totally thought your wig was real."

"Yeah, well," Max said, pulling the wig back on and adjusting it so that it was relatively straight. "Some people only see what they want to see."

They were quiet for a few moments as Max continued to fix her wig, running her fingers through the dark strands. "Hey, you never told me why you were at hospital?"

"Oh, I wasn't doing much." Fang said. He didn't really want to talk about _that._

"What, were you picking daises or something? Ooh! I bet you were in for some kind of STD. your promiscuous lifestyle finally caught up to you, no doubt."

He gave her an incredulous look. "What kind of person do you think I am?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Seriously though. Why _were _you there?" she asked, frowning with concern. She leaned closer. "Do you have some kind of _incurable disease _that you're not telling me about?"

"Nah, it's just my mum." He said, rolling his eyes. "Worrying about a particularly ugly brown mole on her back. Wondering whether it was somehow linked to skin cancer, and whether she should get it removed. 'Course, the _real _reason she wants it gone is 'cos she thinks it's ugly. Says she won't be able to wear her bikini come summertime."

Max laughed. "Eww! A middle-aged version of Fang in a bikini! How quaint!"

Fang crinkled his face in mock disgust.

Even as he told the lie, he could feel his heart dropping to his stomach but he knew it was better this way.

He thought back to when his mum started to get suspicious. During the last few weeks, he had managed to convince her otherwise, but now it was time to get back on track. He'd lost enough time as it was.

And besides, there wasn't anything wrong anyway.

Just his mother overreacting, as usual.

* * *

><p><strong>Dear reader,<strong>

**Love it, hate it? **

**Anyone curious about Fang? Anyone at all?**

**No? Yeah, me neither :o**

**Bow ties are cool,**

**Necrophobia :)**


	3. The girl named Francis

**The girl named Francis**

Max skipped around her kitchen, humming to herself as she made breakfast - a peanut butter and ketchup sandwich (a guilty pleasure). She tried to control the smile that threatened to split her face in two, but she just couldn't help it; today was her first day of school in almost a year.

She had been discharged from hospital almost a week ago now; the doctors had said that the cancer was under control and it was safe to discontinue treatment. And then, at long last, she returned home, tired but happy. She had dumped her duffle bag onto her bed and looked around at the bedroom she had decorated all those months ago when she had first moved in . . .

Having just left her old school and having no current form of education, her father had enrolled her at the local high school. She was scared of started at a school where the students and teachers _weren't _the ones she had known since she was five, where the hallways and classrooms were unfamiliar and held no memories of the mischief she and her friends had gotten up to, where no one knew her name.

But it was the good kind of scared. The kind where nervous fluttering butterflies churned endlessly in your stomach and your head spun with excitement and possibilities. Not the kind where your stomach drops and your heart sinks, like when you're worrying if the next chemo session you have will make your hair fall out.

But after a check up at the hospital, which was supposedly much better than the local private practice in Max's old town, all plans of going to school were cancelled. The cancer had advanced and Max had to be admitted immediately; for both health reasons and convenience.

But now that she was out of that dreadful place, _now _she could start living. _Really _living.

As she finished eating her sandwich and slung her school bag onto her shoulder, the scared feeling started building up again in the pit of her stomach; nervous fluttering butterflies churning in her stomach.

The good kind.

* * *

><p>Fang sat down at an empty table at the cafeteria. He didn't even know why he came here anymore – it just reminded him of all the things he'd rather forget.<p>

He glanced over at the table that Iggy was sitting at. He was laughing and joking with Dylan and his friends.

Fang quickly looked away.

He picked at his dry turkey sandwich in front of him (no butter, obviously) and took a swig from his water bottle.

"Hey,"

He looked up as Max plunked herself down on the chair next to him, a coke and a large plate of steaming curly fries clutched in her hands.

"Nudge is coming." Max stated as she dug into her food.

"Who?" Fang asked, ripping his sandwich into smaller pieces with his fingers.

"Nudge," Max said through her fries. She swallowed. "I met her in gym class. I can't do sport in case something happens or whatever," she rolled her eyes, "so I was stuck on the bleachers for two periods. Nudge was sitting out too because she had a "heavy menstrual cycle"." Max made quotation marks with her fingers. "I'll tell you, mention _one _thing about the female body to the forty-something-year-old male gym teacher and he'll let you get away with _murder."_

Fang winced down at his sandwich. "Too much information, Max."

"Hey, Max!" A dark skinned girl with kind eyes and hair that seemed to have a life of its own sat down opposite Fang and Max, carrying a bottle of orange juice and a wrap.

"Sup," Max said through her food.

"Who's this hottie?" Nudge asked.

Fang nearly choked on the water he was drinking.

"Dark hair, black clothes, pale skin; rocking the emo look I see? Although, you're a bit too skinny for my taste. I like my boys buff to bursting."

Max rolled her eyes. "Nudge."

Nudge looked at Fang for a few moments before her eyes widened with recognition. "Wait, I know who you are! You're that dude who Dylan and his mates have been picking on recently. I don't have any classes with you, else I'd remember sooner. Dude, what'd you do to make Dylan so pissed?"

"Why're they picking on you?" Max asked, interestedly.

"It's nothing." Fang muttered.

"What was your name again?" Nudge said, screwing up her face trying to remember. "Franny? Frilly? Folly? Oh yeah! Francis!"

"Francis?" Max laughed into her coke. "_Francis? _What kind of pansy-ass name is _Francis, Franseca?" _

Fang thought back to earlier that day when Dylan had called him that. He looked away.

"Oh, come one." Max said, putting her arm around Fang. "I was only kidding. _Francis. _That's uh, a nice name. If you're seven. And a girl."

Fang rolled his eyes. "Whatevs." He said, drinking some water.

"How'd you get from _Francis _to _Fang?" _Max wondered.

Fang sighed. "My middle name is Anglo. So I just put the _F _and the _ang _together."

"But that name's still kind of _lame._" Max said, confused. "I mean, _Fang _is the sort of thing you'd name your pit bull terrier, you know."

"Don't hate on the name." Fang said, frowning. "And besides. I _did _make it up when I was six and pissed at all the kids calling me _Pantless-Francis."_

Max snorted into her coke. "Pantless-Francis?"

Fang shuddered. "You don't wanna know."

"Hey everyone!" a boy with blonde hair and startlingly blue eyes joined the table.

"Who're you?" Fang asked at the same time Max said, "Hey, I know you!"

The boy frowned in confusion, before his face lit up in recognition. "Oh yeah," he grinned at Max.

"You're that kid I met at hospital. With the broken arm. Jason, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, but you can call me _Gazzy." _The boy said, his chest puffing with pride. "Short for the Gasman, you know."

"And uh, I hope I don't regret asking this but _why _are you called _the Gasman?" _Fang asked hesitantly.

Gazzy opened his mouth, his eyes shining in anticipation before Nudge clamped an arm around his mouth.

"You don't wanna know." She sent a sparing glance at Fang.

"Hey, how's your sister?" Max asked after Nudge had given Gazzy a complimentary hair ruffle before removing her hand from his mouth.

He scowled at Nudge, flattening his hair with a hand and mumbling to himself about something to do with _"Gonna kill her someday. What to do with the body?"_

He looked up at Max, the scowl leaving his face. "Oh, she's good. Missed you like crazy though."

"Cute," Max grinned. "You think I'll get to see my little Angel sometime?"

"Yeah, sure. We can hang over the weekend or something. I'm sure Angel'll wanna play Angry Birds with you again. That _was _the extent of your relationship, wasn't it?"

Max rolled her eyes. "Only when you were being a pussy about getting your cast off."

"Hey, I thought it was going to hurt!" Gazzy said defensively. "I thought it was like a band aid getting ripped off after being stuck on for weeks – only giant and with multi-coloured signatures on it."

"Sure, sure." Max said incredulously.

"Omygosh, we should _totally _exchange numbers." Nudge squealed and took out her phone.

Everyone rolled their eyes, but complied all the same.

"Hey, you're that Francis kid right?" Gazzy asked Fang.

"Fang." Fang said through gritted teeth.

"Huh? Where?" Gazzy asked, looking around.

"No, _I'm _Fang."

Gazzy looked Fang up and down. "You can't fool me. You don't even _slightly resemble _a pointed incisor!"

Fang sighed. "My _name _is _Fang. _I don't like the name _Francis _because it is _gay."_

"That's offensive to gay people." Gazzy muttered.

"Hey!"

* * *

><p>"You like him, don't you?"<p>

"Huh?"

Max and Nudge were in English, last period. They were supposed to be working on a group assignment but, like everyone else in the class, were using the time to talk.

"Fang. You like him."

"What? No." Max said, but her cheeks reddened.

"Liar! You're blushing!" Nudge said. "Omygosh, this'll be _so cute! _Just think! The emo dude and the optimistic cancer girl – she brightens up his gloomy life. If that isn't love, I don't know what is."

Max rolled her eyes. "Besides, even if I _did _like him, which I'm not saying I do, why on earth would he go for a girl like me? I mean, I'm not that smart cos I had to be put a year back cos I missed out on so much school, I've basically had a death sentence since I was five and even though I'm in remission now, you never know, _and _I'm not that great to look at either."

"Not that great to look at. Have you _looked _in a mirror lately?" Nudge scoffed.

"Yeah, this morning when I was brushing my teeth."

Nudge face palmed herself. "I have _a lot _to teach you."

* * *

><p>Fang was walking out of school towards the bus stop when he heard his name being called out.<p>

"Fang! Fang! Over here!"

He turned in the direction the voice was coming from and saw Max standing with Nudge, Gazzy and a man in his fifties.

He hesitantly started to walk in her direction.

"Dad, this is Fang. My new friend." Max said to the man when Fang had gotten close enough.

"Fang, huh? Well I'm not one to judge." The man grinned and shook Fang's hand in a hearty grip. "I'll tell you, parents these days, what were they thinking? I mean, no offence." He threw a look at the three standing in front of him, "But seriously? What parent in their right mind calls their children _Nudge, The Gasman _and _Fang." _He tutted.

"Well, Mr. Batchelder those aren't our _real _names of course." Nudge said. "They're just nicknames, you know to jazz our real names up a bit."

"Oh." The man's eyes lit in recognition. "Well, that _does _make more sense."

"Dad," Max scolded, rolling her eyes.

"Hey, uh I don't mean to be rude or anything but if your last name is _Ride, _then why is _your _last name _Batchelder?"_ Gazzy asked.

"Well, I want to keep my mum's name." Max explained. "I mean, my dad got to give my brother his last name, so my mum argued that it was only fair that _I_ should take _her_ last name. And when she died, instead of changing to "Batchelder" I decided to keep "Ride". It's like deep and meaningful stuff, bro."

"Sorry about your mum," Fang said quietly. He was beginning to think that Max had all the bad luck in the world.

The cancer, moving away from her home, her mum dying; he wondered how someone with so little to live for could be so cheerful, and yet he who had two loving, very alive parents and no incurable disease afflicting him could be so, well _gloomy._

"Oh, that's alright." Max said, grinning. "And besides, _Batchelder _is a pussy-ass name anyway."

"Max!" her father scolded, but he was still smiling. "You kids want a lift?" he asked, turning to the three of them. "I've got plenty of room."

"No, that's okay. I've got to get home soon." Fang said.

"Yeah, me too. I've gotta go pick up my sister." Gazzy said apologetically. "It was nice meeting you, Mr. Batchelder."

He smiled. "You too and call me Jeb. Mr. Batchelder sounds like a prissy teacher's name."

"Ooh! Can _I _come with you Max?" Nudge asked. "I was just gonna wait at school until five because that's when my mum finishes work but do you think I could come to your house instead?" she turned to Max's father. "Would that be alright with you, Mr. Ba- er, Jeb?"

He smiled down at her. "Sure. We could use someone like you to brighten up the house. It's been awfully boring with only Ari and Max here for company." Jeb shook his head sadly.

"Hey, I'm not that boring!" Max argued. "Didn't we have fun playing that riveting game of monopoly?"

Jeb rolled his eyes at the Fang and the others. "You see what I have to put up with?"

* * *

><p><strong>Dear reader,<strong>

**Review, yeah? O_o - my (lame) attempt at puppy dog eyes**

**Yeah, this chapter was kinda boring; but the next couple of chapters are pretty interesting, sort of. ^_^**

**Tell me if I made any mistakes or whatevs (Tokoloshe Monster, see I put the thing at the start that you . . . yeah ^_^ does it make sense? :o)**

**Buh-bye,**

**Necrophobia :)**


	4. The fall

**The fall**

"Woah," Nudge said stepping inside Max's house. "Your house is _so cute!"_

"Uh, thanks? I guess." Max said, rubbing the back of her neck.

"I mean, it's really small, but not in a bad way, d'you know what I mean? But it's like a little dollhouse 'cos all the furniture is really antiquey looking, 'cept the TV. And all the other electronic stuff, actually. And the-"

"Enough, Nudge," Max said, covering Nudge's mouth with her hand and dragging her up the stairs. "Come on. I'll show you my bedroom."

They walked past a few rooms, then stopped in front of a door decorated with numerous car bumper stickers.

"Home, sweet home." Max said, opening the door.

The room was quite small (like the rest of the house) but it was cozy and you could tell it was lived in. Piles of clothes were scattered haphazardly around the room, books stacked up on the floor like strange, rectangular trees had sprouted from the soft carpet.

A laptop was propped open on the desk, an apple core sitting next to it.

Nudge immediately jumped onto the bed (the only thing reasonable tidy, although unmade).

"Sorry 'bout the mess," Max said, stretching out next to Nudge. "I wasn't expecting company."

"That's okay." Nudge said, "You should see my room – my mum has to practically _bribe _me to tidy it. Actually, do you wanna see my room this weekend? Omygosh, and then we can go shopping! Oh and I am totally picking your outfit for you! Oh and there's this really great waffle place in the local mall that I just _have _to show you. You see, they drizzle melted chocolate over this gorgeous warm crunchy golden -

"Nudge," Max said, rolling her eyes. "Cool it. Please."

"Sorry," Nudge gave Max an apologetic look. "I'm just excited that for once I'll get to go shopping with an actual girl! Gazzy may be a great friend but he's a _terrible _shopping partner."

"That's alright," Max said, grinning. "Tell you what. I'll ask my dad about this weekend, and if it's good to go, you can dress me in _anything you want."_

Nudge's brown eyes widened. "Really? Omygosh I'm _so excited! _Actually, I'm so excited that I may sort of need the bathroom now. Where is that?"

Max chuckled. "Two doors down from my room."

"Kay, thanks." Nudge scurried off through the door.

Max lay back on her bed and rested her head in the palms of her hands. It was nice to have friends again. _Real _friends. Not ones she had to live with in hospital or had met in group therapy sessions.

But just _normal _school friends.

Just like everyone else.

* * *

><p>Nudge dried her hands on the fluffy white towel on the rack and proceeded to exit the bathroom – only to bang into something. Hard.<p>

"Ooof!"

She fell down heavily onto the tiled bathroom floor. On her butt. _Ouch._

Dazed, she looked up at what she had bumped into. And for the first time in her life, she was speechless.

* * *

><p>Nudge walked slowly back into Max's bedroom.<p>

Max looked up from the magazine she had begun to read. "Took you long enough. What did you do, _fall _into the toilet or something?"

Nudge remained speechless and sat down gingerly next to Max.

Max frowned. "What's wrong?"

Nudge still didn't reply.

"Nudge, you're scaring me. What happened? You're not talking."

Finally, Nudge turned to Max, her brown eyes wide.

"Your brother is _hot._"

* * *

><p>"Hey, sweetie." Fang's mother called from the living room as she heard the front door shut and the clinking of keys.<p>

"Hey," Fang said as he started walking up the stairs to his room.

"Do you want something to eat, hun?"

"No thanks, I'm not hungry." Fang muttered as he continued up the stairs.

"Alright then," his mother said, doubtfully. "I'll call you down for dinner in a bit."

And with that, her son disappeared up the stairs and out of sight.

She sighed and went back to typing on her laptop. She was an author – and a successful one at that.

She was always going to book signings or working late with her editor and hardly got to see her son. Chewing her lip, she wondered if she should spend more time with Fang; she was worried about him.

He insisted that he was fine, that there wasn't anything wrong but still she couldn't help but worry.

He hardly ever came home, and if he did he stayed up in his room doing goodness knows what.

He was looking awfully thin and sickly; pale skin, chapped lips and dark circles under his tired black eyes.

He had no appetite; once he could devour a whole family pizza unaided, but now he picked at his dinner, looking sadly at the wilted spinach leaves and pasta.

He was withdrawn and sullen, once he had been the life of the party, joking, smiling, bright and cheerful.

And that Iggy friend of his never came around to hang out anymore, though Fang insisted that they met each other on weekends and afterschool at Iggy's house – that was supposedly where Fang went when he disappeared.

Her husband, on the other hand, didn't think anything was wrong. He'd just said something about "boys will be boys" and "going through a phase" and had left it at that.

He never had much time for Fang either. He was always at work – being a solicitor that was always in demand – and hardly came home.

But even with both Fang and her husband reassuring her that everything was fine, she still couldn't quite shake the thought that something was wrong.

* * *

><p><strong>Dear reader,<strong>

**Yeah, so originally this chapter was super long but I split it up so . . . yeah ^_^**

**Gets more interesting next chapter, I think (?)**

**(Review)**

**Au revoir,**

**Necrophobia :)**


	5. The rock hard abs

**The rock hard abs**

The weekend had finally arrived and Max had managed to coax her dad into letting her go shopping with Nudge.

"Omygosh, Max! You should totally buy this dress! It matches your eyes. Oh! And this top would totally go with your hair. I mean, wig. Urrgh, you know what I mean."

Nudge clutched multiple coat hangers draped with clothes and looked up at Max with glee.

Max snorted. "Nudge, calm down! Jeez, how can you have so much energy? You get excited over practically anything."

Nudge scoffed, affronted. "I do _not."_

Max rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. The other day at lunch, you couldn't stop gushing over the fact that the cafeteria was serving sandwiches that were cut in _triangular _halves instead of _rectangular _ones."

"Hey! The cafeteria almost _never _has sandwiches cut into triangles! It was a life altering moment!" Nudge defended.

"Yeah sure, sure." Max said incredulously.

After two hours of shopping, Max and Nudge collapsed, exhausted at a table in the food court.

"So, what's it like – having cancer?" Nudge asked, sipping her latte neatly.

"It's alright, I guess. If you're into losing all your hair and having no social life." Max said while she slurped her milkshake noisily.

"But they cured you now, right?" Nudge asked, hopefully. "That's why you can come to school now, isn't it?"

"Well, not really." Max said, sighing. "I mean, there's no _cure _for cancer, there are only things that _control _it from going completely mental and killing me."

"Oh."

"Yeah, at the moment I'm in remission – that means that the cancer is under control, but who knows what'll happen in the future? It could flare up again; I'm like a ticking time bomb, just waiting to explode. It scares me, knowing that death could be right around the corner, if only I were to look hard enough."

"You know, I just don't know why the nicest people have to have the most horrible things happen to them. I mean, you're young, smart, not bad to look at (Max smiled and rolled her eyes) and you have a bright future ahead of you, but you were just _unfortunate _enough to get something like this." Nudge ranted.

"Yeah, I know." Max sighed. "It _sucks. _But people pity you a lot. You can guilt-trip them into doing things for you. Why, the other day I convinced my dad to give me the last cookie because I played the "cancer card"." She made quotation marks in the air.

"Yeah but, I mean, people like Mr. Fitzgerald I almost condone getting cancer, but someone like _you!_ It's just not fair!"

"Yeah, well _life _isn't fair." Max said dryly.

They sat silently for a while; their conversation still hanging heavy in the air.

"Hey, you know what we should do." Max said finally.

"What?" Nudge said.

"We should play truth or dare."

"Uh, sure." Nudge said. "But isn't that the kind of thing you play at sleepovers?"

"No, not _that _kind of truth or dare." Max said, rolling her eyes. "The shopping centre one."

"Huh?" Nudge asked, confused.

"Haven't you ever played it before?" Max asked.

Nudge shook her head.

"Oh, well back home, we played it all the time. The things that Tess and I got up to –" Max trailed off, reminiscing.

"Max?" Nudge said when Max had been staring off into the distance with a dreamy look and a goofy smile for a few minutes and didn't show any sign that she would stop soon.

"Oh. Right." Max shook her head vigorously before turning to Nudge.

"So basically it's just like normal truth or dare, _but _you play it in a shopping centre. Most dares consist of embarrassing content. So dares like, you go up to random people and tell them, let's say, "_I'm gay, can I eat you out?" _and run away laughing like a maniac."

"Uh, okay. What happens if you choose truth?" Nudge asked.

Max paused for a moment. "I actually don't know. No one's ever chose _truth _before. Okay, new rule – always choose _dare."_

"Okay then, you go first." Nudge said.

"Alright then," Max agreed. "Ask me a dare, then."

"So uh, what do I ask you to do?"

"Anything."

"Anything?"

"Anything."

"_Anything _anything?"

"Yes!_ Anything _anything."

"Okay, uh hug _that guy." _Nudge randomly pointed at a teenage boy standing by McDonalds.

"Done." Max said and stood up.

"Hey! Come back. I wasn't serious!" Nudge hissed, but Max had already gone.

Nudge ran to catch up with Max, but she had already reached the boy. Nudge could only stand and watch, chewing her lip.

Max embraced the boy from behind, then after a few moments let go.

The boy turned around and stared at Max incredulously. "Who are you?"

"Oh, sorry," Max smiled at the boy. "I thought you were someone else."

The boy looked at Max as if she were crazy. "_Who_?"

"My – err – brother."

"I'm Asian." The boy said flatly.

"Yes, I know_," _Max said. "It's hard to tell between you chinks; you all look the same."

"That's racist." The boy said, frowning. "And stereotypical."

"Okay, fine." Max said, "You don't _all _look the same, the ones with the bleached hair in those K-Pop videos look like wannabe-Caucasians."

The boy opened his mouth as if to say something, but Nudge interrupted. "I'm sorry about my friend," she smiled apologetically at the boy. "She's on a _special _outing from the local psych. Hospital. I'm her caretaker. She'll be going back later this afternoon. Isn't that right, Maxie?"

She nudged Max in the ribs. Hard.

"Ow! Oh, uh yes. _I'm _mentally impaired."

"Oh-kay. I'm leaving." The boy said, looking at both girls as if they might attack him. He backed away slowly before turning and sprinting away.

"Okay, your turn." Max told Nudge.

"Uh-uh. No_ way _am I doing a dare. I don't know about you but I do _not _want to embarrass myself in front of a random stranger. I mean, did you _see _what happened to you?"

"Oh, come on. It's only fair. _I _did it. Just go hug someone. It actually feels quite nice, until they turn around and start accusing you of things."

"Okay, _fine." _Nudge scowled. "But just so you know, I don't like this game_ anymore."_

Max snorted. "Oh _please. _The only reason you don't like it is because now _you _have to do the dare. Not so funny when _Nudge _gets embarrassed, huh?"

Nudge ignored Max, handed her the shopping bags and drinks she had been holding, and strode away, scanning the area for potential non-pedo, non-creepy huggers. She spotted the back of a cute blonde guy and walked up to him quietly.

She glanced at Max for assurance – Max grinned and gave her the thumbs up – took a deep breath, then hugged the boy.

Mmmmm. _Abs._

After what seemed like a lifetime, she let go of him.

The boy turned around and Nudge groaned. Of all the people in the world, it just had to be –

"Ari!" said Max surprised, jogging up to them. "What are _you _doing here?"

"Dad asked me to pick you up. Said he didn't trust the public buses. Guess they're not good enough for _precious ickle-Maxickins." _Ari said playfully.

Max rolled her eyes and punched her brother.

"Kay, let's go." Max said.

They turned to leave but suddenly Max announced that nature called and scrambled off to the ladies' as fast as her legs would carry her.

Nudge looked longingly in the direction that Max had disappeared off into, wishing that she didn't have to be in such an awkward position.

Alone.

With Ari.

The boy she had just _hugged _(and felt his rock hard abs).

The boy who she knocked into on her way out of the bathroom.

Just the two of them.

_Great._

"So," Ari said.

She slowly turned back to Ari, drumming her fingers impatiently on her thigh.

"What's up?"

"Oh, you know, the usual." Nudge shrugged. "The sky and all."

Ari smirked. "A bit of a smart- ass, are we? And _speaking _of asses, how was it, pressed up against _my _fine specimen of one, if I do say so myself."

"Eww." Nudge said, her cheeks reddening. "Do _not _describe it like that."

Ari gasped. "You did _not _just call my ass an _it. _He's got feelings, you know."

Nudge rolled her eyes. "Oh, really?"

"Yes." Ari insisted. "And besides, not that I didn't enjoy it, but what were you doing, randomly hugging me. I mean, I know sometimes girls just can't control their bodily urges when they're around me, but –"

"Hey! I'm not some horny teenage girl, alright?" Nudge fumed, her cheeks blazing. "And if you _must _know, Max _dared _me to hug a random stranger and I just so _happened _to hug _you."_

"Oh, please. You so knew it was me." Ari said. "You were just _waiting _for an excuse to touch some of _this. _Got a taste of it the other day when you _accidentally _bumped into me and just _had _to get some more. I don't blame you though – eventually, they _all _come crawling back to the _irresistible _Ari."

"Are – are you talking about yourself in third person?" Nudge asked, incredulously. "You're so _lame."_

"I am _not _lame." Ari rolled his eyes. "You're just embarrassed that I caught onto your little horny _shenanigans, _trying to perv on me."

"And why on _earth _would I want to perv on _you _of all people?" Nudge snorted.

"Don't tell me you didn't want to feel _this?" _he gestured to his ripped torso, barely concealed beneath his thin T-shirt.

"_That? _You're proud of _that? _Seriously? My ten-year-old cousin has larger muscles than that." She said, scanning his body critically, although her eyes lingered longer over his chest than necessary.

"Whatever," Ari dismissed, although he looked a little hurt.

Like a poor, wounded puppy.

How cute.

_Gosh, I did _not _just think that Ari Batchelder was _cute, thought Nudge.

* * *

><p>After Ari drove Nudge and Max back to Max's place (in which Nudge and Ari threw sarcastic comments at one another until Max commented on the sexual tension rapidly building up in the small space of the car), Nudge and Max proceeded to go up to Max's room and lie sprawled next to one another on Max's bed, looking through a gossipy magazine.<p>

"So, you know your brother, Ari?" Nudge asked Max.

"Yeah?"

"And how he's hot?"

"Eww." Max wrinkled her nose in disgust. "But do go on."

"Well, I was thinking – I'm single, he's single and maybe we could –"

"No."

"But if you just –"

_"No."_

"But Max –"

"Seriously, Nudge." Max said, sitting up. "Don't go after my brother. You don't know what you're getting into. I mean, don't get me wrong." She said. "I love him and all, but boy can that guy be a masochistic douche bag. He'd break your heart and leave me to pick up the pieces. Trust me. I've seen it happen _too many times._ He was almost _glad _that we had to move here 'cos of all the broken hearted girls he'd left behind back home."

"But Max if –"

"No." Max said sternly. "If you value our friendship, then just steer clear of Ari."

Max's face softened as Nudge stared down at her knees, fiddling with the hair tie on her wrist.

"I just don't want to see you get hurt. Sorry." Max said, putting an arm around Nudge.

They sat there like that for a while, Nudge nestling her head onto Max's neck, the trust and the expectations of their friendship hanging heavily in the air.

And Nudge just knew that she couldn't tell Max that Ari had asked her out.

And that she'd said yes.

* * *

><p><strong>Dear reader,<strong>

**Hehe ^_^**

**Any of you guys ever done the dare thing at the shopping centre? So embarrassing ==' **

**Review much?**

**Smell ya later,**

**Necrophobia :)**


	6. The wet willy

**The wet willy (not that kind you sicko)**

His head hurt. His legs hurt. Gosh, everything _hurt. _

Fang sat down shakily on the grass on the oval at the local park, wet with morning dew.

A racking cough shook his whole body, and he squeezed his eyes shut, willing the dizzy feeling to go away. The morning, afternoon and weekend runs made him feel _so sick. _But they had to be done.

He couldn't _imagine _what would happen if he stopped. He mustn't stop; he couldn't.

It was impossible.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Fang wait up!"<p>

Fang turned around and – to his surprise – saw Maya (a girl in a couple of his classes) bounding up to him.

He had spent another lonesome English lesson doodling at the back of the class and was now more eager than ever to join up with his newly found group of friends for lunch.

"That English class was boring, huh?" Maya said once she had caught up with him.

"Yeah," Fang muttered, wondering why on _earth _Maya of all people was talking to him. She hadn't looked - much less _talked - _to him since, well since -

"So, how are you doing?"

He stole a quick glance at her walking beside him. She was as beautiful as ever - blonde luscious hair with - for some strange reason - a streak of magenta through it, cute bow lips, flawless skin, big doll eyes.

"I'm fine."

"Good, good."

They kept walking, side by side down the corridor sprinkled with bustling kids.

"Okay, look Fang." she turned to him and stopped walking. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay." _I deserved it._

"No, really I _am _sorry. I just," she ran a hand through her hair. "I just needed some alone time, you know? And I'm really shit at breaking up with people. I didn't really mean what I said. - I just don't like you in that way, is all."

Fang cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. "Right."

"Friends?" she asked, smiling up at him, brushing a strand of magenta away from her heart-shaped face.

"Sure." he answered, even though she would probably never talk to him again. He didn't really mind. She was just that kind of person - energetic, scatter brained, eager to please but slow to follow up the various tasks she promised to do.

"Cool!" she pulled him into an awkward one armed hug - both of them still holding their books.

"Woah, you're really cold." Maya said, pulling away from Fang and frowned up at him. "And you look kind of pale. Are you alright?"

"Yeah. I'm fine."

"Kay, well I guess I'll see you around." She smiled and

"Oh and I'll talk to Dyl about the whole being-a-dick-to-Fang thing he's got going on; no idea why he's been acting like that lately." she called over her shoulder.

He watched as she walked away; all this had happened _because of her._

If only she knew how much it hurt.

* * *

><p>"And then, when she pulled my finger, <em>I farted!" <em>Gazzy said, bursting into fits of laughter.

"Hahaha, oh I _so_ don't get your jokes." Max said, wiping an imaginary tear from her eye. "Maybe it's just one of those things that takes time to understand."

"Believe me. Time does _not _help." Nudge said. "I'll never get him."

The four of them – Fang, Max, Nudge and Gazzy – were sitting in the cafeteria eating lunch and listening avidly (or at least, _pretending _to listen)to Gazzy tell stories of numerous pranks that he had pulled.

"Hey! I find that offensive!" Gazzy said.

"I find your _face _offensive!" Nudge retorted.

Gazzy screwed up his face at her and stuck his tongue out.

Nudge gasped. "You did _not _just do that."

"Oh, I just did." Gazzy said smugly. "Oh and – oops!" he said, sticking his tongue out once more. "Did it again."

"That's it." Nudge growled. "Wet willy time!"

"Noooo!" cried Gazzy, scrambled to get away but it was too late.

Nudge grabbed Gazzy in a headlock and proceeded to insert a wet finger into his ear.

"Arrrrgh!" Gazzy squealed.

"You'd think that you could fight such a small girl off, wouldn't you?" Fang asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Hey! Nudge is surprisingly strong for her size, okay?" Gazzy defended, still in Nudge's death grip.

After Nudge had finally obliged to let Gazzy go, they started eating again.

"Hey, why aren't you eating lunch?" Max asked as she dug into her hot dog.

"Oh, I'm not hungry. I think I'm coming down with a cold." Fang said.

"Aww, poor Fang." Max said. "Lemme check if you have a temperature."

She placed a warm, soft hand on his forehead. It felt pleasantly nice.

"Woah, Fang – you're freezing! Did you bathe in ice cubes or something?"

Fang shrugged, concentrating on the warmth radiating from Max's hand – she had forgotten to take it off his forehead.

"Uh, not to disturb you guys' "love fest" or whatever," Gazzy said, making quotation marks in the air, "But I think you should remove your hand from Fang. It's kind of awkward, dude."

"Oh, oops." Max said, blushing quickly taking her hand off Fang. "I forgot. Sorry."

Fang frowned. He missed the warmth of her hand.

"Hey, so this weekend I think we should all go out to this awesome new ice-cream place that opened up recently." Nudge said, taking a bite out of her burger.

"Ice-cream and the weekend? Count me in." Max said, stirring her coke with a straw.

"Yeah, me too!" Gazzy said.

"Uh,, I don't think I can go." Fang muttered.

"What d'you mean you _don't think you can go?" _Nudge said. "You _have _to come! Otherwise everything I've worked for –er I mean – then we'll _never _get to hang out as a group. As in _outside_ of school."

"Yeah, come on Fang." Max said, putting an arm around Fang. "Just come. I'm sure you're schedule isn't _that _busy."

"I don't know . . ." Fang said, looking away.

"Please?" Max begged, placing her fingers on Fang's chin and turning him back to face her. Her chocolate brown eyes begged him, her pale pink lips trembling in anticipation (what would it be like to kiss, to _taste _them?). He couldn't look away; he was mesmerized. "For me?"

And in that moment, Fang felt as though he would do _anything_ for her.

* * *

><p><strong>Dear reader,<strong>

**Yeah, it's a bit short but ^_^**

**XD XD XD**

**Also, REVIEW! (or not, whatevs)**

**Anyone wanna guess what's wrong with Fang? This chapter might have given it away; I think it's kinda obvious tbh, but then again I wrote it.**

**Tired,**

**Necrophobia :)**


	7. The icecream mountain

**The ice-cream mountain**

_Three months ago . . ._

_"Fang, what's wrong?" Iggy asked Fang as they walked back from school together. Even though both knew how to drive, they preferred walking – a tradition they had carried out since elementary school._

_"What? Nothing's wrong." Fang said, tightening his grip on his backpack. It seemed especially heavy today. Lately, everything seemed heavy – objects he tried to carry, his head, his body . . ._

_"Don't bullshit me, Fang." Iggy said, annoyed. "I _know _something's up. You look like shit, your grades are slipping, you're avoiding me and our friends, _what the hell is going on?"

_"Nothing's going on." Fang insisted. "I'm _fine."

_Iggy looked skeptically at him. "Fang, seriously mate, what's going on? I'm your best friend – or at least, I thought I was. I thought we were supposed to tell each other _everything. _I even told you that I liked _Ella _for crying out loud – I didn't even tell Dylan about that."_

_Iggy stopped walking and turned Fang around by the shoulder so that they were facing each other. He left his hand on Fang's shoulder. _

_"Fang, I-I'm _worried _about you. Ever since you broke up with Maya, you've been acting strangely. What's going on?" Iggy looked at Fang, his blue eyes burning intensely into Fang's black ones._

_Fang looked away. "It's nothing, it's just that –"_

_"Yes?"_

_"I mean, I don't really –"_

_"Uh-huh?"_

_"It's just that sometimes I –" Fang shook his head. "You know what? Never mind. I'm sure it's nothing. Don't worry about it."_

_He turned to continue walking, but Iggy's firm grip held him back._

_"That's it? You won't tell me? I'm you're _fucking best friend! _I care about you! Why can't you see that?"_

_"I'm _fine." _Fang hissed. "There's nothing wrong. And anyway, even if there _was _something wrong, you can't help. No one can help me."_

_"You think you can do it alone? That's crap! I don't know what you're going through right now, but I'm willing to help if only you'd just _tell _me what the _fuck _is going on!"_

_"No." Fang set his jaw in defiance._

_"Fine! Be like that! Call me when you fucking want to be my best friend again and fucking tell me what's going on!" And with that, Iggy stormed off leaving Fang very much alone._

_This had consumed his life, it had taken away his good grades, his social life, his free time, and now it had taken his best friend and for the first time, Fang wondered if it was even __worth_ _it anymore?_

* * *

><p>"So, what's up?"<p>

Fang and Max were sitting opposite each other in a liquorice-red booth at the ice-cream parlour Nudge had been talking about.

"Same old, same old." Max replied.

"Cool."

Nudge and Gazzy were twenty minutes late and Fang and Max (especially Max) were getting impatient.

Fang was jiggling his leg impatiently, and Max kept doing drum solos on the table with the packets of sugar in the box on the side of the table. She had already burst three.

"Where _are _those guys?" Max asked, brushing the sugar off her fingers and pulling out her phone. "Nudge said _two o' clock, on the dot. _Well, it's almost _two thirty _and they _still _aren't here."

"Maybe they got lost." Fang supplied helpfully.

"But Nudge was the one who suggested coming here in the first place!" Max said exasperated, texting furiously into her phone. "I'm gonna ask her where she is."

A moment later her phone beeped. Max flipped it open:

_Lol, Gaz and I rnt coming – I set it up so tht u n Fang wld b alone togthr! Hahaha, now go make some 3 wid Fangy ;D_

Max paled as she stared at her phone.

"What'd she say?" Fang asked, leaning over to read the text message.

"No!" Max cried, clutching her phone to her chest. "Uh, I mean Nudge said that she and Gazzy couldn't come. They had something to do."

"Oh." Fang said, sitting back in his seat. "So, d'you wanna just go then?"

"What, so I'm not good company then?" Max asked, affronted.

"What, no! I just thought that you wouldn't want to hang out with me alone." Fang muttered, looking down at his hands in his lap.

_Aww! He's so _cute _when he's embarrassed. _Max cooed. _ Arrgh! Shuddup, brain._

"So, I'm gonna go order some ice-cream. Anything you want?" Max asked, getting up.

"Nah, I'm good."

A few minutes later, Max and Fang stared entranced at the ice-cream mountain sitting in front of them, barely supported by the glass sundae cup it was in. Fresh strawberries and cherries littered the top of the mountain and chocolate sauce was drizzled generously over the whole thing.

"Woah, that is one big ice-cream. How much did you order?" Fang asked.

"Well, there was a special – twenty flavours for twenty dollars."

"_Twenty? _How on earth do you expect to finish it?"

"With lots of difficulty. Oh well, it was worth the money." Max shrugged as she dug into the side of the mountain with a spoon.

"Don't you want some?" Max asked through a mouthful of cookie dough ice-cream.

Fang smirked. "Nah, it's much more entertaining to watch you eat. How can such a _small _girl eat _so _much?"

"I dunno," Max mumbled through her ice-cream. "Practice?"

Fang chuckled.

After ten minutes, Fang stared speechlessly at Max, amazed.

The mountain of ice-cream had been conquered.

"Aaah!" Max exclaimed, standing up and patting her stomach. "That was nice."

"What, I can't even - arrgh." Fang spluttered.

"I better go for a walk to burn it off. Join me?"

"Sure." Fang said, still shocked at how Max had devoured the whole mountain in barely ten minutes. By herself.

They walked through the local neighborhood, just - well - talking.

They got to know each other, more so than when they hung out at school This was different. This time they were by themselves without Nudge or Gazzy.

Fang unconsciously put his hand in Max's when they crossed the road, (Max said nothing, but had blushed profusely) and forgot to remove it so now they were walking hand in hand, down the sidewalk in the warm spring air.

Max told him of how her mother had died in a car accident one rainy day and how, even after ten years, she still missed her.

Fang told Max of how his parents were almost never around, and when they were they were arguing. He worried that they would split up.

Max told him how she first found out she had cancer when, on a routine check-up at the doctors when she was five, they had found that her white blood cell count was high. The next thing she knew, she had been diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and going in and out of hospitals, visiting doctors, coming home exhausted every day.

Fortunately, she had a slow-progressing disease and didn't need treatment for almost seven years, going for frequent check ups to monitor the disease.

But then, she began feeling sick all the time. Her once hearty appetite left her, she felt hot and shivery and she got pains in her abdomen.

The doctors decided to treat her with chemotherapy.

And eventually, it worked.

Of course, by the time she was well enough to do anything, she had already missed out on almost a year of schoolwork, moved to an entirely different city, lost contact with all her friends and had to repeat Year Eleven.

She felt exhausted from fighting the disease for so long and irritated that she had let it affect her life so much.

And even now, it was still affecting her life. The possibility that it could come back at any moment scared her. She didn't know if the cancer was gone for good, she could only hope that it stayed out of her life for good, or at least long enough to let her live her life to the fullest.

Fang put an arm around Max's shoulder in an awkward but warm side hug and told her how brave she was.

Max learnt that Fang's favourite colour was green, but that he always wore black because it was supposed to make you look slim.

Fang learnt that Max loved dogs and cats, but was allergic to both.

They talked for hours, wandering aimlessly around the streets until they reached a park.

Excited, Max pulled Fang along and plopped herself onto a swing, Fang sitting on the one beside her.

They swung lazily on the swings, the old chains creaking under their weight, watching the oranges and reds and golds of the sunset swirl together in the evening sky.

"The sunset's beautiful." Max said, looking up at the sky.

"Yeah, you are." Fang breathed.

"What?"

"Err, I see a car."

Max looked at Fang, a bewildered expression on her face. "Uh, okay."

They sat there like that for a while, in comfortable silence, bathing in the warm glowing of the day's last rays of the sun.

"Okay, I think I should take off." Said Max, getting up and stretching. "My dad's gonna freak if I get home too late."

"Yeah, me too." Fang said, brushing off his jeans as he stood up.

"D'you want a ride home?" Max asked, taking out her phone and texting. "I'm gonna ask my dad to pick me up."

"No, that's okay." Fang said. "I live close by – I'll just walk home."

"This was nice." Max smiled up at Fang.

"Yeah, it was." Fang agreed. He couldn't tear his eyes away from her.

"We should do it again sometime."

"Yeah, we should."

They stood there like that, just staring at each other, a light breeze ruffling Max's curls, pushing them into her face.

Fang had the sudden urge to brush the curls out of her face.

"So, bye." Max said.

"Yeah, bye." Fang said, but neither of them moved.

Fang pushed all thoughts out of his head, and leaned down – just as Max turned around.

His lips brushed her eyelid.

Realising that he had missed, he quickly stepped away.

Max turned back to Fang, her eyes wide. "Were – were you going to _kiss _me?"

"Uh, no." Fang denied, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "I just uh, wanted to smell your hair because I wanted to know what shampoo you use – it smells really nice. I just missed and got your eyelid instead."

"I don't _wash _my hair – it's a wig." Max said, raising her eyebrow at him.

"Oh yeah, uh." Fang said. "Well, the wig making place sure makes nice smelling, er wigs. Maybe you could give me their address sometime and uh, I could buy one." Mentally, he face palmed himself. _Wig making place? Really?_

"Sure," Max smirked. "Well, see you round."

"Yeah, see you." Fang watched her leave, swinging her hips slightly, her pale skin glowing in the sunlight.

And as she walked further and further away, he couldn't help but feel disappointed.

* * *

><p><strong>Dear reader,<strong>

**Disappointed?**

**More plot is coming in next couple of chapters, so stick around ;D**

**Rock on,**

**Necrophobia :)**


	8. The particularly ugly panda

**The particularly ugly panda**

"So, are we going for ice-cream soon?" asked Gazzy.

The Gasman and Nudge were hanging out in his room, avoiding his sister as usual. Nudge liked Angel, but she was a little hard to handle. The first time Nudge came over, she had offered to give her a makeover. Now, every time Nudge came to Gazzy's house, Angel pestered her to "make me look like a princess again!" complete with a prominent pout and bambi-eyes.

Hence the reason why Nudge and Gazzy were hiding in his room, armed with a handful of Disney movies and two pepperoni pizzas (extra cheese).

"Gaz, we're eating _pizza _now." Nudge scolded, dabbing her lips with a paper serviette and reapplying her strawberry lip-gloss.

"Yeah, I know." Gazzy mumbled through a mouthful of melted cheese. "But I'm still _hungry_."

"How could you possibly know that? You haven't even finished eating yet." Nudge scoffed.

"Yeah but I need to know where my next meal's coming from. I need that security. So we going for ice-cream or what?"

"Aaah, about that whole going to the ice-cream shop. It ain't happening."

"Nuuudge! Whyyyyyy? You got my hopes up again!" Gaz sulked.

Nudge rolled her eyes. _"Because, _Gaz. We have to give Max and Fang a little "alone time" if you know what I mean."

"Well ex-_cuse _me! The ol' Gazzy ain't good enough to hang out with, eh? Gotta be "alone" together by "themselves". Urrgh." Gazzy sniffed.

"Stop being such a wimp, Gaz." Nudge said. "And besides, you'll thank me later when we're at Max and Fang's wedding and I'm the maid of honour and I get to wear this totally awesome poufy dress that kind of looks like a meringue but in a tasteful sort of way and then when Max says her vows she'll thank me for all the hard work I put into bringing her and her one true love together and then Fang will name me Queen of the World in his vows and then you –"

"Uh, you're getting a little ahead of yourself there, Nudge." Gazzy rolled his eyes. "But seriously, are you sure it's a good idea to meddle with these sorts of things? I mean, can't you just let them figure it out for themselves?"

Nudge stared at Gazzy. "But that could take _ages. _I need this to happen _now. _The sooner the better – before my face and boobs start to point down. Otherwise the perfect dress I'm envisioning isn't going to fit properly."

Gazzy opened his mouth to argue his point further when Nudge's phone vibrated. Confused, Nudge picked up her phone from Gazzy's duvet and looked at the screen.

_1 new text from Ari Abs-cellent _(so _that_ was what he was doing when he asked her to give him her phone!)

"It's from Ari." Nudge exclaimed, surprised. "What's he doing, texting me?" She winced as she realized her mistake at saying Ari's name out loud. She hadn't exactly told Gazzy about her and Ari yet, not that she was _never _going to tell – she just hadn't gotten around to it yet or at least was trying to put it off for as long as humanly possible.

"Ari?" Gazzy asked, surprised. "Isn't that Max's brother? What's he doing texting you?"

"Uh." Nudge said, rubbing the back of her neck. Nudge gulped. Gosh, she should have told Gazzy about this before. She _wanted _to, no doubt about that, it was just that, well …

"Well you see, about that …"

"Spit it out Nudge." Gazzy said, spitting bits of cheese across the room.

"Uh, well Ari and I are sort of … a thing." Nudge mumbled.

"What?" Gazzy exclaimed, sending spittle and pizza flying towards Nudge.

"Say it, don't spray it." Nudge said irritably, rubbing her face.

"Sorry." Gaz swallowed. "What? What do you mean, you and Max's brother are a _thing?"_

"I don't know; it just … happened." Nudge mumbled, looking down.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Gazzy asked, annoyed. "I mean, I'm your best friend. I thought we were supposed to tell each other everything."

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry, Gaz." Nudge apologized. "I just – I knew that Max didn't want me and Ari together so I couldn't tell her, and then I _wanted _to tell you honestly, but I just felt so guilty that I went behind Max's back and you would know that I sort of "betrayed" Max and mine's friendship and I felt super guilty about it and –"

"Nudge," Gazzy said, interrupting her mid-rant. "Why doesn't Max want you to date Ari?"

"Uh," Nudge said. "Well, it's probably not going to happen or anything and Max is just probably overreacting and being overprotective and –"

"Nudge," Gazzy said, interrupting her again.

"Okay, okay well Max thinks that Ari's gonna "hurt" me or something. Like break my heart or something, but I mean she doesn't have anything to worry about and –"

"Wait, why does she think that?" Gazzy asked, confused.

"Well, apparently he sort of was a mega douche bag man whore who slept with anything that had a heartbeat at his old school or something." Nudge said. "But I think Max was just exaggerating when she –"

"Nudge! Why are you dating a man whore?" Gazzy chastised.

"He's not a man whore! He's just, erotically charged." Nudge defended. "And besides, I can take care of myself. I know I'm being a really bad friend to Max, but gosh that man whore is cute."

"You're betraying a friendship for _cute_?" Gazzy asked, flabbergasted.

"Okay so maybe it wasn't such a good idea, but I just wanna see where it could go. And if he turns out to be a douche bag, I'll dump him faster than a handbag from a reject shop."

Gazzy sighed, rubbing his brow. "Alright, fine. I just don't want to see you get hurt. And next time, tell me before you do something like this – I'm your best friend, you gotta tell me everything whether you've got engaged or you've ran out of toilet paper and want me to go get some."

"Sure, Gaz." Nudge said, smiling at him. "I'm sorry I lied. I won't do it again. We cool?"

"Like the other side of the pillow." Gazzy said, pulling her into a hug, resting his boney chin on her curls. "And if he ever messes you up, I'm gonna kick his ass."

Nudge laughed into his chest. "Sure, whatever you say macho man."

They stayed like that for a while, relaxing in each other's familiarity.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Nudge said, pulling out of the hug. She checked the message on her phone.

_Meet me outside ur house in 1/2 hour. Also, text me ur address._

"He wants me to meet him in half an hour?" Nudge screeched. "But I'm not even dressed yet!"

"What? Are you naked again?" Gaz snorted. Nudge threw a pillow at him.

"Hey!" Gaz whined.

"You _know _what I mean." Nudge glared up at him, jabbing her address into her phone and pressing "send".

"I'm going back to my place - I gotta go get ready."

"Yeah, bye to you too." Gazzy shouted after her, grabbing another piece of pizza. "Good luck!"

* * *

><p>Nudge finished applying a fresh coat of lip-gloss. She scowled at her reflection in the mirror. She didn't have time to do her eyelids <em>or <em>her eyebrows plus her hair was as curly as ever. She tugged at a strand sadly, watching it spring back into place like a coil.

Luckily, Gazzy's house was a block away so she managed to get back to her house in less than two minutes by running like a madwoman. The nosey woman watering her garden was not pleased with that sort of unruly behavior, sniffing her nose up at Nudge's flaying arms and muttering something along the lines of "not how a young lady should act".

_Beeeeeep! Bee-beee-be-beeeeeeeeeep! _A car horn sounded from outside.

"_Crap," _Nudge cursed under her breath. She gathered up her phone, wallet, iPod and makeup bag and shoved them into her handbag, slinging it over her shoulder while she sprinted down the stairs, taking them in twos.

"Bye, mum!" She called over her shoulder.

"Where are you going?" Her mother hollered from the kitchen, washing dishes.

"Out!" Nudge called.

"Out where? With who – oooh, is it a boy?"

"Bye, mum I'll talk to you later." Nudge said, slamming the door.

"Be back by ten!" Her mother's muffled voice called from behind the door.

Nudge checked her reflection in the compact mirror in her bag and walked down the driveway. A red dusty looking station wagon stood at the end. Nudge frowned at the state of the car, and the obvious age but then remembered that all of Max's expensive cancer treatments must have chipped away at Ari's spending money, her stomach flip-flopping with guilt, and a little nervousness.

She walked up to the drivers' window and tapped on it. It rolled down.

"Get in." Ari said, turning the key in the ignition.

"Well, hello to you too." Nudge grumbled, climbing into the passenger seat of the car.

"My, my didn't someone get up on the wrong side of the bed. PMS got you down?" Ari said as he drove down the road.

"Urrgh, no _butthead_, you texted me like twenty minutes ago. How in the flying fruitloops did you expect me to get ready in such a short amount of time?

He glanced at her. "You look fine."

Nudge rolled her eyes. "Yeah, whatever. You didn't even look properly. I mean, I didn't even get to straighten my hair _or _do my makeup properly and –"

Ari looked her dead in the eyes. "You're beautiful. Burning your hair follicles and smearing a bunch of powders and creams on your face isn't going to change that." He turned back to the road, and continued driving.

Nudge blushed, looking down at her handbag in her lap.

"So, uh where are we going anyway?" She asked.

Ari smiled. "It's a surprise."

* * *

><p>Nudge smoothed down her floral print dress and brushed back a piece of hair (which just sprang back into place, darn not having enough time to straighten her hair) from her face as she trotted in her high heels in an attempt to keep up with Ari.<p>

"Hey, wait up." Nudge said. "You're walking too fast."

"I'm not walking too fast." Ari said. "You're the one who's walking too slow."

"Well, I can't help it if I'm wearing heels." Huffed Nudge. "They're hard to walk in."

"Well, who asked you to wear heels? I _told _you we were going to be walking a lot."

"No, you told me it was a surprise." Nudge said. "How was I supposed to know that we would be going to an amusement park?"

"Now, now." Ari tutted. "Don't get angry. You're cute when you're angry and who knows if I'll be able to control myself around you."

"Whatever." Nudge huffed, and awkwardly stomped off, followed by a chuckling Ari.

Five minutes later, Nudge was still stomping ahead of Ari, although a lot slower than before. Walking around an amusement park in four-inch heels was _not _an easy feat.

_Ow ow ow ow, _Nudge thought, _oh why oh why did I decide to wear heels today?_ _I can't say anything though because I'm supposed to be mad at that dick. _She glanced back at Ari's smug face, bobbing closely behind her. _And I am._

"Hey," Ari said, jogging to catch up with her. He fell into pace with her, one of his steps making up for four of Nudge's awkward totters. "Are you still mad?"

"Yes." Nudge growled, glaring up at him.

"But how can you be mad at _this?" _He emphasized his body clad in a fitted T-shirt and dark washed jeans.

"Let me tell you, it's pretty hard _not _to be." Nudge said, wincing as her foot sent another throb of pain up her leg.

"Do your feet hurt?" Ari asked.

"What's it to you?" Nudge grumbled.

"Let me see."

"No."

"Let me see!"

"No!"

"Not even if I say the magic words?"

"No friggin' way, hotstuff."

"So you think I'm hot, huh?" Ari smirked.

"Arrrgh! You're impossible!" Nudge said, blushing.

"And you're not?" Ari said. "But seriously, let me see your feet."

"No way, José."

"Well, you leave me no choice." Ari said.

"What do you – aaaaaaah! Put me down!" Nudge screeched as Ari carried Nudge bridle style onto a nearby bench outside a cartoon themed café.

He took off Nudge's shoes surprisingly gently, letting out a low whistle at the angry red blisters that were forming on Nudge's feet.

"You know, I never knew why on earth chicks would want to subject themselves to so much pain over a pair of shoes. I mean, is being slightly taller really worth it?"

"It's called fashion, butthead." Nudge said, clutching her foot. "And those heels are meant to be seen, not walked in."

"Woah, so the sole purpose of shoes is to be _seen. _Here I was thinking that you wear shoes so that it makes it easier to walk in but hey, you learn something new everyday." Ari said sarcastically.

Nudge rolled her eyes. "So what are we supposed to do now? I mean, I have no shoes."

"Pick up your torture devices." Ari said.

Nudge frowned, but complied, picking up her heels. Suddenly, two strong arms wrapped around her.

"Aaaaah!" Nudge shrieked. "What are you doing?"

"If you can't take the theme park to the mountain, take the mountain to the theme park." Ari said, swinging Nudge over one shoulder.

"That doesn't make sense and I'm not a mountain!"

"You sure feel like one. " Ari grumbled,

"Hey! That's not a very nice thing to say to a lady!"

"What? You're a lady? I would never have guessed."

They continued bickering until Nudge saw the Ferris wheel and insisted that they join the long line of couples and get on, then when they were sitting on the red velvet seats amongst the clouds and the endless blue of the sky, and Nudge was attempting to have a "moment" with Ari, then he spied a fairy floss stall underneath them and started ranting about how he loved the sugary goodness of cavity-making candy.

Then after they had both gotten a large stick of pink fluffy goodness, Nudge dragged Ari over to the roller coaster, then the merry-go-round, the bumper cars, the arcade, ghost train (Ari screamed and held onto Nudge – she wouldn't shut up about it for half an hour). The time flew by and soon the sun was a brilliant gold, halfway hidden against the horizon.

"Hey, do you realise I've been running around barefoot for the whole day?" Nudge asked, swinging her hand in Ari's, walking lazily through the crowds of people licking ice creams and throwing balls into the gaping mouths of white painted clowns.

"Not the _whole _day. What about all the times I gave you a piggy back, huh? Does my suffering count for nothing?"

"Speaking of which, can I have a piggy back now? My feet are getting sore again."

"Stop being lazy." Ari scoffed. "And besides, I'm getting really tired. And the sun is setting - I think we should go back soon."

"Awww, can't we play one more game." Whined Nudge. "Please?" She looked up at Ari with big brown puppy dog eyes.

_How could I say no to that face? _Ari wondered. "Oh, alright." Ari huffed. "But only one more. Then we're going home 'cos I'm buggered."

"Yes!" Nudge said, punching the air. Her curls bounced around her shoulders as she skipped over to a booth filled with giant soft toys and small, mechanic aliens that stood quite still at the back.

"I like that one." Nudge said, pointing to a particularly ugly looking plush toy. It was a squishy overstuffed panda with small paws protruding like pimples from its roly-poly belly, bugged-eyes like a fish and a squashed face.

"You want that one?" Ari asked with surprise. "But it's so ugly."

"It's not ugly, it's cute." Nudge sniffed.

"Sure, whatever." Ari muttered. "I like that one." He pointed to a green turtle sticking out its small, pink tongue with a face that screamed "derp".

"Well, sure if you like particularly ugly ninja turtles ..."

Ari rolled his eyes. "So you wanna play or what?"

"Yes please!" Nudge

"How much?" Ari asked the gangly teenage attendant behind the bench.

"Five bucks for five balls. Knock down an alien and you win." He said glumly, scratching the three hairs growing on his chin.

"Alright then." Ari rummaged through his wallet and gave the attendant a five.

"Ahem."

He turned around to face Nudge. "What?"

"Well, aren't you going to pay for me too?" She pouted.

"Why?"

"Because you're the guy. It's common etiquette."

"Fine." Ari grunted, handing another five to the attendant. "Of all the sexist -"

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

The teenager handed Nudge and Ari five balls each, and pointed carelessly at the mechanic aliens at the back, mumbling the rules.

Ari flexed his muscles and grabbed a ball, doing squats in place. Nudge cracked

"Bet you five bucks that I'll win." Ari said, keeping his eyes on the mechanical aliens.

"You're on, Ar," Nudge said, her gaze locked on the aliens.

"Three." The attendant counted down. "Two. One." He pulled a lever.

The mechanical aliens suddenly started to dart in impossible directions, their bodies of chipped paint from being hit so many times a blur.

Nudge threw the ball. Once (miss) twice (miss) thrice (almos – miss) four times (miss) five (miss "Damnit!").

Ari on the other hand, took his time calculating his throws carefully. Once (almo – miss) twice (almos – miss) thrice (alm – miss). On the fourth time, the ball landed smack bang in the middle of a faded purple alien. An alarm went off and the aliens snapped back into their orderly lines.

"I won! In your face, Nudge!" Ari whooped and danced around her.

"Whatever." Nudge huffed, crossing her arms. "Stop being so immature."

"Choose a prize." The teenager said in a bored voice.

Ari was about to point to the derp turtle when he caught a glance of Nudge's crestfallen face out of the corner of his eye. It was heart breaking. _He couldn't just leave her like that._

"That one," he said finally, pointed at the ugly-ass panda. The attendant handed the panda to him. He thrust it at Nudge.

She blinked, clutching the panda against her chest. Finally, the fact that Ari had given her the toy sunk in.

"OMG, thank you, Ar! I love it. I totally though you were going to get that ugly-ass turtle. You're so sweet. I'm going to name her Arianna, Ari for short - after you. Arianna the panda. Yay! Thank you thank you!" She flung one of her arms around Ari and kissed him on the cheek.

Ari blushed, but wound his arm around her too. "Don't mention it."

* * *

><p><strong>Dear reader,<strong>

**Hehe *sheepish grin* yeah so I haven't update in ... awhile. Sorry, pwease forgive me? ^_^' I tried to make it long though so forgiveness is mandatory :/**

**Sorry if there are a crap load of mistakes - I didn't read over it at all 'cos I'm just that cool :3.**

**So, what do you think's going to happen? Will Ari break Nudge's heart? Will Gazzy eat all the pizza by himself while Nudge is gone? What's going on with Max and Fang? Why aren't they in this chapter, you stupid author? Only time will tell.**

**Going on hols tomorrow - whooooooooooooo! To the beach! Are you guys on holidays yet?**

**Love y'all,**

**Necrophobia :)**


	9. The unicorn riding a goldfish

**The unicorn riding a goldfish**

"So." Nudge prompted as Max plopped herself next to Nudge on Nudge's neatly made bed.

"So what?" Max said, helping herself to the plate of cookies that the two had snuck into the room when Nudge's mother wasn't looking.

After much angry texting and spam phone calling, they had decided to go to Nudge's house to discuss the events of yesterday (or in Nudge's words, "hot, steamy, emo-boy date").

"So how was your hot, steamy, emo-boy date?" Nudge waggled her eyebrows.

"Will you stop calling it that?" Max hissed through a mouthful of cookie. "We're just friends."

"Sure, sure." Nudge raised an eyebrow. "So what happened?"

"Well, I don't see any good reason for why I should tell _you -_ I'm still angry at you. You totally ditched me yesterday. It was so embarrassing." Max glared at Nudge. "How could you just leave me alone with Fang - no warning, no phone call before, no nothing. I just threw on a T-shirt and old jeans I found on my bedroom floor, I mean come on, if I had at least known about it before I would have dressed a little better - _not _that I want to impress him or anything." she said, noticing Nudge's annoying knowing look. "I'm seriously reconsidering our friendship because of this." Max huffed at Nudge, pouting.

"Cookie?" Nudge quickly offered the angered Max the plate.

Max's scowl fell off her face, replaced with a dopey look. "Don't mind if I do."

"So, how was it? Seriously?" Nudge asked.

"Well, you know how in those cheesy romance movies, the two main characters have like this instant chemistry thing?"

"Yeah." Nudge said slowly.

"Well, it was nothing like that." Max said shortly, biting into a cookie.

"Oh. Is that a bad thing?"

"Not really - it was real. It wasn't all perfect like in those chick flicks where the main characters are immediately attracted to each other and gel automatically, we had to try a few times before it flowed, you know?" Max smiled down at the cookie in her hand. "And then talking to him was as easy as breathing - I felt as though I could talk to him about anything."

"Well, that's a good thing!" Nudge smiled. "But more important than emotionally connecting, did you guys kiss?"

"Uh," Max flushed.

"Ooh, you did! Tell me everything!" Nudge demanded.

"Well, we didn't actually kiss. I think he was about to kiss me -I'm not sure of course - but then I turned my head you see and he got my hair instead."

"Oh." Nudge said, dejected. "Well, maybe next time." she said in a comforting manner, patting Max on the back.

Max rolled her eyes at Nudge before changing the subject. "Anyways, what did you and Gaz do while me and Fang were off gallivanting."

Flashes of Ari and the wonderful day at the theme park ran through Nudges mind. She gulped. She still wasn't ready to tell Max about her and Ari - and Ari certainly hadn't told Max either (Max would murder Ari in the middle of the night if she learned that her asshole of a big brother was dating her best friend).

_Anyway, I don't have to tell Max yet, _Nudge thought to herself. _I'm still not sure about Ari yet - at this point, who knows if this will ever develop into something more. It's just a crush. If we get serious, I'll tell Max. _Nudge decided, but she still looked at Max guiltily.

She cleared her throat."Uh, well Gaz and I stayed home watching Disney princess movies." Nudge lied, mentally wincing.

"Woah. I never knew that guy had so many levels." Max said, chewing on a cookie in amazement.

"Yeah, I know right?" Nudge giggled nervously. _Just for now_, she thought, _just until I find where I stand in this whole fling with Ari. And when I get enough courage to tell her._ She reassured herself over and over again, that it was okay - it was okay lying to her friend who trusted her - she'd tell Max eventually after all, it wasn't so bad, it was alright, everything was cool.

But really the lie was eating her up on the inside.

* * *

><p>After the afternoon at the ice-cream parlour, Max and Fang started to hang out more on the weekends and afterschool. By themselves. Not that it really bothered Nudge anyway. She always seemed to be busy on weekends, afterschool, really anytime that wasn't spent at school.<p>

Usually Fang would be going on long, exhausting runs or locking himself in his room but now he found that most of his time was spent with Max. It was strange. Good strange. Suddenly, his life wasn't being ruled by that little voice in his head, telling him he wasn't good enough. It was being ruled by Max. Or at least, most of the time.

There were still times when Fang felt his old habits coming back, inching their way onto him like foul insects crawling up his legs, on his arms, into his ears and mouth, infesting his body, his soul, his mind, but being with Max kept them at bay. At least, for a little while.

And then, on a sunny Sunday afternoon in mid September it happened.

Fang and Max were lying next to each other on the cool grass at the park, gazing up at the clear blue sky dotted with big floating cauliflowers.

"That one looks like a unicorn riding a goldfish." Max said, pointing lazily at a fluffy white cloud floating in the endless blue blanket above them.

"That one?" Fang asked. "Nah, it's more like Nudge's hair exploded over a giant caterpillar."

Max choked on her laugh. "Fang!" she punched him on the shoulder playfully. "What if Nudge heard you?"

Fang shrugged into the grass. "Then she'd know I was right."

Max gave him a look.

"And she would probably murder me." Fang admitted.

Max rolled her eyes at him then turned back to facing the clouds, letting the rays of sunshine envelope her body in a pleasant warm feeling - like being in a bath. She smiled up at the heavens and closed her eyes, sighing in contentment. She could fall asleep here. She could die here. _Mmm, dying._

"What are you thinking?" Fang's voice asked from above her. She opened her eyes to find him propped up on an elbow, facing her.

"How it's so peaceful here, I could die happy." she smiled up at him. "It's so warm - it's making me sleepy."

She snuggled into the crook of Fang's arm and closed her eyes. Fang gazed at her pale face, the sunlight lighting up her face in a soft glow; he could make out her faint blonde eyelashes and eyebrows, see the small veins spidering on her eyelids, her skin, her lips ...

"So, how are your parents?" Max mumbled into his chest.

"Uh, they're alright." Fang said.

She turned on her side, facing him with concern in her wide brown eyes. "Really?"

"Well, no but that's a given." he grimaced.

"Aw, poor Fangy." Max mocked. Then her face turned serious. "So what's happening?"

"Mum's packing the last of her stuff. I don't think it's really sunken into my Dad that she's leaving. She bought her new place almost two months ago. He can't deny it much longer - he hardly comes home at all now. He's at work all the time - or so he says anyway." Fang said bitterly.

Fang was shocked when his parents had announced they were getting a divorced. Shocked, but not surprised. It was for the best, he supposed. They barely talked to each other, passing by like strangers in the hallway when they happened to be at home at the same time, blinking in surprise at the other one's presence. He felt like the divorce was necessary for the sanity of his parents - unlike most kids his age who desperately wanted their parents to stay together. It wasn't like his parents argued a lot, shouting and screaming at each other, disagreeing on everything possible to disagree on. No, it was the silence between them, the things unsaid, the wall of indifference that grew larger and larger, pushing Fang's parents apart.

Yes, he agreed with his parent's divorce, but that didn't mean he couldn't feel like crap about it. He recalled all the memories in his childhood when he had a real family - a mum and dad who spent more time together and with him than with work. It made him sad knowing that he'd never have that again.

But Max made it a little better. She was his ray of sunshine peeking from the grey storm clouds in his life (_gosh, that sounded cheesy,_ Fang thought to himself).

He felt like he could tell her everything.

Well, almost everything. Everything but _that_ _thing_. But that was different - he felt weird telling her something that he wasn't even sure of himself. And it had gotten better anyway, hadn't it? To be honest he was embarrassed to have had such a shallow, trivial matter effect him so - after all, what kind of boy worried about that kind of stuff? What kind of _boy _worried about the size of his jeans more than the size of his, well._ I sound just like Dylan_, Fang thought to himself dryly.

"It's alright, Fang." Max said quietly, leaning closer to him, looking at him with those mesmerising brown eyes.

He couldn't speak, she was so close to him, he could smell the faint scent of strawberries coming from her skin, count every one of her eyelashes, feel her warm breath on his face.

"You'll get through it - I know you will. And hey, you'll get to be one of those kids with the sob story of how their parent's divorce traumatised them for life. Perfect excuse for being emotionally unavailable to tell all the chicks." she smirked up at him.

He raised an eyebrow. "Right. Unlike you, I'm not the type to abuse their sob story to score members of the opposite sex."

"Whatever. Aren't guys supposed to have no morals?"

"True, true. But then doesn't that make you a guy? I mean, your morals are out the window."

"Since when has having the morals of a guy been a _bad thing?"_

"Well, it's not a bad thing." Fang said, distracted by how Max had gotten to him. "It's just that a girl with the morals of a guy is more commonly known as a slut."

"Well, I guess that makes me a slut then." she whispered.

Fang didn't reply - his throat had closed up. She was so close her face was almost touching his. He drew a ragged breath and stared up at her.

She leaned in closer to him, her lips brushing against his. He gasped at her forwardness as she captured his mouth in her own. The smell of strawberries overpowered him, making him feel faint. All he could feel were her lips on his, her soft curls in his hand, her skin on his, his heart beating a bruise on his ribcage.

She pulled back, both of them breathing a little harder than normal. Her hair was adorably mused from Fang's hand being tangled in her hair.

"Uh, I'll see you tomorrow, yeah? I have to get back for dinner." Max said breathlessly, getting up.

"Yeah, sure." Fang said, biting his lip. He wondered if she regretted the kiss (but she had initiated it), or if he hadn't been any good (it wasn't his first kiss though, but still), where did this leave them?

She started walking away.

"Max?" he called out to her retreating figure before his nerves could stop him.

"Yeah?" she called over her shoulder.

"Be my girlfriend?" he winced at his words, painfully sharp and to the point. He braced himself for rejection.

She turned around, smiling softly at him, her eyes sparkling. "Sure."she said and turned back, starting to walk again.

His grin was so wide as he watched her walk away that he felt as though his face might split in two.

He touched his lips, still feeling the trace that Max had left on him.

He smiled into his fingers, tasting strawberries.

* * *

><p>He was going so well. He didn't understand what had happened. It had all just gone so fast. One minute he was normal, the next he was back to where he left off.<p>

Fang, Max, Gazzy and Nudge were sitting at a table in the cafeteria, talking about Gazzy's new obsession with everything explosive when a blonde girl bounced over to their table.

"Hi, Fang!" Maya said cheerfully, clutching a tray with a water bottle and some sort of wrap. She looked as beautiful as ever, but surprisingly he wasn't as affected as he used to be. Before she had been perfect in his eyes, flawless - he couldn't look away - but now he could also see the pimples on her forehead, her annoyingly cheerful attitude all the time, her chapped lips. _What had changed?_ He glanced at Max and his expression softened. He had Max now.

"Hey." Fang said, surprised that she was even talking to him. He hadn't expected her to remember to talk to him since the last time they had spoken.

"So, how's it going? Ooh, you got some new friends! Aw, they're just so adorable! I could just eat them up - well, if I ate." she grinned at them.

"Oh, I know you! You're in my maths class!" Nudge said. "Mari, right?"

"No, Maya." Maya corrected - still smiling - not at all insulted that the girl that had been in her mahts class for almost the whole year couldn't remember her name. _Then again, _Fang thought to himself, _Maya probably didn't remember Nudge's name either. _"What are you guys' names?"

"Well, I'm Nudge, this is the Gasman, Max and you know Fang obviously." Nudge said. Everyone gave a smile or a little wave or nod when their name was mentioned.

"Cool names." Maya said. "Your parents must be awesome."

"Well, they're not our _actual _names of course." Nudge said. "Our parents aren't that stupid, we actually made them up ourselves. You see, the Gasman has a superhuman amount of flatulence so that's where he got his name, people have to nudge to to stop talking - hence me being Nudge - Fang made up his name 'cos he thought it sounded totally rad, in primary school of course." Nudge added when Fang glared at her. "And Max, well unfortunately her name _is _quite masculine. So yeah."

"Uh, groovy." Maya said, slightly shocked that Nudge could talk for so long and not run out of breath. "But I knew why Fang was called 'Fang' anyway. He told me."

"Actually, how _do _you know Fang?" Max piped up. For some reason, she felt oddly threatened by this girl - maybe it was the way she looked at Fang, or her bubbly-larger-than-life personality, or the fact that she looked like she had just walked off the runway of a fashion show.

"Oh, he's my ex." Maya waved her hand dismissively. "But we're still good friends, right Fangy?"

"Uh, sure." Fang said uncomfortably.

"You look good - healthier since I last talked to you. You've put on a little weight - packed on the muscle. Atta boy, Fang." Maya winked at him. "Well, anyway it was nice talking to you guys. I guess I'll see you around in class or something." she grinned at them

"I don't like her." Gazzy said. "She's too - happy."

"Gaz! Don't be mean!" Nudge punched Gazzy on the shoulder. ("Ow!") "I think she's nice."

"What do you think, Max?"

"Uh, she's alright, I guess." Max said, although there was a jealous edge to her voice.

"Ooh, Max looks like you've got some competition! She was eyeing his muscles up and everything!" Nudge squealed.

Max sent her a withering look and threw her empty milk carton at Nudge, who screamed and ducked under the table.

"Missed me." Nudge poked her tongue out at Max. "Guess you just can't handle the fact that you're not the only one hungry for Fang's juicy man-buns."

"What - I don't even - ew, Nudge!" Max stammered, disgusted at her friends vivid description. "Oh, gosh - now I'm imagining Fang with custard buns for butt cheeks! Nuu-uudge! You suck!" Max glared at Nudge and shook her head, trying to rid herself of the scarring mental image.

"Whatever," Nudge said dismissively. "You know you like it. And don't worry, Maya is no competition for you - you got the whole cancer-pity thing going for you. What kind of boy would dump a girl dying with cancer ("I'm in remission!" Max interjected) for a blonde bimbo. You don't still like Maya, right Fang?"

"Hmm?" Fang had hardly heard the rest of the conversation. Maya's words were echoing dully at the back of his mind. All he could think about was what Maya had said: _healthier, put on a little weight, muscle. _

The half eaten blueberry muffin on the tray in front of him that had once looked so appetising suddenly made him feel disgusted - as if it had turned into a pile of slimy earth worms. He glanced at the empty coke (regular) bottle, the smear of ketchup he had left behind while eating a hot dog and the crumpled packet that had once held chips littered on his tray and the sight of them sent a stab of guilt through his chest.

_Stupid stupid stupid._ The numbers ran through his mind - the ones that had been gone for months - as if it had only been yesterday, calculating, scheming, adding, telling him how badly he had done. _Shit. _It was a lot. Added together with what he'd had for breakfast (toast and a bowl of cheerios) it was too much - more than he'd eat in a good week back then. He glanced down at his forearms resting on his thighs. They seemed to swell and bloat before his very eyes. Tears threatened to spill down onto his cheeks.

All his hard work - gone. How had it come to this - it had taken him _months _to get where he was, and he had thrown it all away just to be with _some girl_.

"Fang? Are you okay?" Max asked, concerned. "You're awfully quiet. Nudge was only joking about the whole "man-bun" thing."

Fang looked up and stupidly blinked at Max, a confused look on his face. He suddenly realised where he was. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just need to go to the bathroom. I'll see you after school." he said faintly, getting up from the table.

He walked to the bathroom as if in a trance. He barely noticed the handful of students trickled around the corridor, their laughs and conversations turning into incessant mumbles, his surroundings blurring at the edges as if he were encased in a ball of bubble wrap.

Only one thing was clear - he had to get to the bathroom. He had to get there. He must. He could already feel the food entering his bloodstream, oozing into him, oil drip drip dripping into his veins, inflating him like a giant balloon.

He roughly pushed the door to the boys' bathroom open and scanned the room. Empty - good. He walked into one of the stalls, locking it behind him and took a deep breath, staring into the toilet bowl_. Hello old friend, _he thought humourlessly and crouched down.

* * *

><p>The bathroom door swung upon, squeaking on its hinges. Fang froze, scared to move, scared to make a sound lest he be caught in such a compromising position.<p>

Footsteps made their way into the stall next to Fang's. He held his breath. A steady stream of piss sounded, echoing on the walls of the bathroom. Finally, it stopped and the toilet flushed.

Fang took it as a chance to get more out - the sound of the toilet flushing would disguise the noise he made for a little while.

A tap sounded, followed by the dryer. Fang took advantage of the sound to drown out his heaving. Suddenly, the dryer stopped, leaving an escaped retch to echo around the bathroom.

"Hello?" A voice called.

Fang gulped. Crap, he had been caught. Best to just lay low - maybe he'd go away.

"Fang, I know it's you." The voice said irritably. "Who else would be knelt over at the toilet in the boys' bathroom?"

Fang sighed, half relieved half annoyed.

"The diet's going good then?" The voice called from behind the cubicle door.

"Go away, Dylan." Fang said irritably.

"How come every time we seem to run into each other, your head is stuck down a toilet?" Fang could hear the smirk in Dylan's voice.

Sighing, Fang wiped his mouth with his sleeve and flushed the toilet, stepping out of the cubicle to wash his hands.

"Because the toilet's much better company then you." he leaned down and took a gulp of water from the running tap, swirling it in his mouth before spitting it into the sink. "And besides." he said as he dried his hands on a paper towel, "This is only the second time we ran into each other here."

He shuddered at the memories of the last time Dylan had caught him here. It was the day after his big fight with Iggy and Fang had been avoiding them. At lunch, Fang had pigged out - reassuring himself that it was alright to eat a large hamburger and fries washed down with a thick shake, after all he _had _just been dumped by one of his best friends.

But as the final dregs of thick shake flowed down his throat, the horror of what he'd done sunk in. _He'd ruined everything. _He found himself walking to the bathroom - not that it had been the first time doing it at school, sometimes it was too hard to hide how little he ate in front of his friends so he would have to eat a lot - locking the cubicle door and going headfirst into the toilet bowl.

"Fang? Fang, are you here?" Dylan's voice had come from the bathroom door. Fang hadn't even heard him come in - he'd been too busy.

"Yeah." Fang answered, flushing the toilet. He'd got most of it out anyway, he'd just do sit ups in his bedroom when he got back. And maybe an extra hour of running.

"Oh, cool. I've been looking for you everywhere. I heard you and Iggy got into a fight. What's it about this time?" Dylan sniffed and started coughing. "Urrgh, did someone throw up in here?"

"Uh," Fang said, a cold burst of fear shooting through him. Dylan couldn't find out. It would ruin him. It would make it seem more real for him - if no one noticed, maybe it'd go away.

He exited the cubicle, trying to look as normal as possible. He attempted to smile slightly at Dylan, but his cheek muscles didn't seem to be working that day, and he'd let his mouth fall into a thin line.

Dylan glanced at the vomit smudged on the side of Fang's mouth, the sore looking callous on the back of his hand smeared with puke, the haunted expression on Fang's face. He knew that look all too well. It reminded Dylan of something he'd rather forget.

"Dude, did you make yourself throw up?"

"Uh," Fang didn't know what to say.

"Shit, man! That's disgusting! What are you, some kind of chick? Only girls do that kind of nasty thing - what, you wanna fit into a bikini by summer? Ew, no wonder Iggy doesn't want to talk to you."

"Don't tell Iggy." Fang whispered.

"Yeah, whatever." Dylan said, eyeing Fang as if he were some creature he had found at the bottom of his shoe and stormed out of the bathroom.

And now they knew. They knew his disgusting secret. Fang had locked himself into a cubicle, curled up into a ball and cried. Dylan was right. He _was _disgusting. And pathetic. And hopeless. And worthless. But worst of all - fat.

After that, Dylan started taunting him, pushing him around and dragged Iggy further and further away from him. Dylan was his best friend and when he had needed him the most, he had just left._ Not that he wanted any help anyway, _Fang thought,_ after all, it had all seemed to be under control. _

And now, just as he was relapsing, Dylan had found him again. It was like Deja vu.

"Two times too many if you ask me." Dylan said, tugging Fang back to the present. "And what are you doing in the boys' bathroom anyway? Surely you belong in the little girls' 'cos no self respecting male would do the things you're doing."

"Right." Fang said, leaning back against the wall and crossing his arms. "What do you want, Dylan?" he asked.

"Well, I came here to piss, but seeing as you probably clogged the toilet, I guess I'll have to hold it."

Fang narrowed his eyes at Dylan, saying nothing. They stared at each other for a while in silence, eyeing each other off.

Dylan's face softened. "Iggy's worried about you, you know." Dylan said quietly.

Fang sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I know."

"Is it really worth it? Losing your best friends just so that you can lose a couple of pounds? Is it, Fang?" Dylan asked, crossing his arms.

"I - it's not - I don't know." Fang muttered, avoiding Dylan's gaze accusing him of all the things he'd rather forget.

"Just think about it." Dylan said and walked out of the bathroom, the door swinging shut behind him leaving Fang alone with his thoughts.

* * *

><p><strong>Dear reader,<strong>

**Yeah so, I suck. Haven't updated since last year :o**

**We finally found out Fang's secret. ****Are you surprised? Or had you already guessed? **

**I'm sorry if you find it a little confusing or all over the place *holds up hands* I tried :p**

**Sorry if I haven't replied to your review - it's the holidays and I have a very busy schedule of sleeping until late in the afternoon, you know. Yeah, but uh yeah ... I forgot where I was going with this =.='**

**Hope you guys had a great New Year ^_^**

**Review or I will eat your pancreas,**

**Necrophobia :)**


	10. The huge zit

**The huge zit in the middle of someone's face**

Empty.

He had forgotten how good it felt to be empty. Weightless. Running purely on adrenaline. It was wonderful. Why had he ever stopped? He couldn't remember. All he could recall was this magical feeling, this feeling of flying, of soaring amongst the clouds on raven feathered wings, the tips drawing wispy swirls into the tops of clouds. He was flying, he was higher than he had ever been - the possibility of falling seemed distant, far away, _impossible - _he was in ecstasy.

It was a little hard to slip back into his old habits – after all, he'd spent all that time after he'd met Max eating like a pig – and the feeling of hunger was at first, unwelcoming and unpleasant, but eventually he remembered and it became so much easier, he embraced the hunger pangs like an old friend.

Every time he skipped breakfast, or lied to his friends to excuse himself from lunch, or did sit-ups in his bedroom until his stomach felt as if it were on fire, he felt elated. Powerful. He was in control, no one else. He could make himself hurt if he wanted, he could shape and mold his body like a wax figurine into something beautiful, something perfect.

He knew that it was kind of stupid – wanting to be perfect. He knew that no one was perfect, but he reckoned he might as well get as close as possible to being perfect – and that was being skinny.

At the moment, he was hiding in the library, avoiding eating lunch under the watchful eyes of his friends. His stomach grumbled – applauding him. He smiled.

A sheet of paper with the words "English Essay" scrawled at the top and "Francis Harrison" scribbled messily in the corner lay in front of him, propped up against a hardcover book about anorexia.

For some strange reason, lately Fang had grown increasingly interested in the disease. Not that he wanted it – please. It was a _girls' _disease, after all. No, he just liked reading all the symptoms and comparing them to himself – checking to see if he fit.

He had gazed at page after page of emaciated teenage girls with sunken chests and protruding ribs, prominent hipbones and icy blue nails, brittle hair and dead lifeless eyes. At first, his reaction to them was of course, disgust. How could they do that to themselves? _I mean, I'm trying to lose weight too but I'd never let myself go that far, _Fang thought to himself. _I'd never let myself lose that much control._ It was revolting.

But then the jealousy starting seeping in, the admiration. Fang stared longingly at the girls' skeletal frames and thought to himself, _I want that._

_And the losing weight thing would be easier too if I had anorexia,_ Fang mused to himself. _It would speed it up a lot. _

He shook his head and turned back to the blank piece of paper staring up at him. His earphones were jammed into his ears, the volume roaring at full blast and he started sketching on the paper he was supposed to be writing his essay on.

He was listening to his favourite song of the day on repeat, somehow he found meaning to the lyrics and could even connect to the song, not that he'd ever admit it to anyone who asked.

The intro of electric guitar and drums faded as the lyrics kicked in. He mouthed the words to himself, getting lost in the song.

_I wear my heartache on my sleeve_

_I love myself too much to sleep_

_It haunts me - _

"Whutcha doin'?"

He looked up to find Max squatting down next to him. He turned down the volume a couple of notches but left the earphones in his ears.

"Oh, you know. Just catching up with some homework. The usual."

"You're such a nerd." Max scoffed. "You practically spend every lunchtime here – in fact, I haven't seen you in the cafeteria for weeks!"

"Yeah, well I'm kind of busy." Fang said sheepishly. "Doing homework and all. You should try it some time."

"Nerd." Max repeated, rolling her eyes. "What are you listening to?"

_I am a teenage drama queen_

_I throw my guts up for self-esteem_

"King Adora." He said uncomfortably, not wanting to show Max the song. Some of the lyrics were a little strange, he had to admit, but he seemed to relate to them well enough so -

"Oh, cool. Never heard of them before. They any good?"

"Their band was named after a certain type of sex toy." He smirked at her.

Her eyes widened, a shocked expression on her face. Fang chuckled. She could be so innocent sometimes. It was endearing. "Ew, Fang! Why do you listen to this kind of stuff?"

_Every boy wants a body to die for_

_And every girl who's thin is his rival_

_I wish that I had a body to die for_

"Meh, I dunno. Just like their style I guess." Fang shrugged.

"Hey, you wanna go get some ice cream after school?" Max asked Fang. "I heard they've brought in a whole bunch of new flavours and I wanna go try them all."

"Uh, sorry. Can't. I've got all this homework to do." Fang lied. Really, he was going to go for a run until he couldn't stand, then come back home and do sit ups and push ups on the floor of his bedroom.

"Fang, you gotta stop worrying about school and stuff. Live a little, eat some cake, go sky diving, you know?" Max said, grinning at Fang.

He frowned at her. She sighed and rubbed her temples, plopping herself down next to Fang. "Just _relax, _okay?" she said, staring into Fang's eyes, clutching onto his arm. "Don't push yourself. You're only a kid once, you may as well enjoy it."

"Thanks for worrying about me, Max but really, _I'm fine." _He stared into her eyes, concern swirling in their dark chocolate depths.

"Hmm, well okay then, Fang." Max said reluctantly. "But you've really got to start taking care of yourself more – you've lost a lot of weight and you're starting to look really pale all the time." She leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the mouth before walking away, throwing him one last concerned glance at him over her shoulder.

_It was working! _Max had said that he had lost weight! He felt happy, elated, like he was flying.

Fang smiled to himself and continued sketching on his sheet of paper, cranking up the volume again.

_Sweet anorexia._

_Skinny is sexy. _

_Big isn't beautiful._

* * *

><p>Nudge pressed herself against Ari's hard, chiseled body, her lips frantically attacking his, wanting more. Her fingers clawed at his bare chest, his making their way up the back of her shirt.<p>

They were in Nudge's bedroom (Ari's house was out of the question – Max, duh) and seeing as Nudge's mother was out, they figured that they'd have a little "alone" time to themselves.

She didn't really know how this had happened – one moment they had been rubbing each other the wrong way, going on awkward but sort of enjoyable dates, the next they couldn't get enough of each other. They hadn't exactly _done it _yet, but they had practically done everything but.

How she had gotten so close to Ari in such a short amount of time, she didn't know. It wasn't like she had planned it or anything. It had just sort of, happened. And it wasn't just the physical stuff, if she'd had a bad day or found a dress she had really wanted on sale, gotten an A in Maths, embarrassed herself in class, she knew she could talk to Ari.

Surprisingly for such a douche bag he was a good listener. And eventually, he started talking too. Not the sarcastic blasé façade he hid behind, no, the "I love my little sister, flowers are pretty, Luna Lovegood is my favourite character ever" kind of guy he was.

She didn't mind that he was kind of conceited and stuck up, and self centered most of the time because that was who he was. It just wasn't _all _of him. He could be caring and compassionate when he wanted to be.

Nudge had the sneaking suspicion that Ari might want to go all the way soon, but she wasn't letting up. Every time his hands got too close to the hem of her skirt, she'd smack them right back up. It wasn't that she wasn't ready, or that she was a prude (she _had _done it before - once.), it was just that, well, she hadn't exactly told Max that she was going out with Ari.

She supposed that she should have told Max about her and Ari now, but she had gotten so deep into the relationship that it was hard. What if Max rejected her? Or what if she and Ari broke up anyway? Maybe it was only working out the way it was because it was a "secret" relationship. It was exciting, exhilarating for Ari to hide behind his sister's back, and if she told Max about them then Ari might get bored and ditch her.

She pushed away from Ari, running a hand through her frizzy hair. She sat slumped on her bedspread, biting her lower lip.

"What's wrong?" he asked, slinging one arm around her shoulders. She snuggled into his chest.

"Max."

"Well, it's good to know that my kissing skills are so good to the extent that you're thinking about my little sister while we're making out."

Nudge scowled. "I'm serious, Ar. We still haven't told her yet."

He ran his free hand through his hair. "Yeah, I guess. But what's the big deal, anyway?"

"I don't know, I just don't want her to hate me, that's all."

"How could she hate you?" Ari asked, tracing patterns into the bare skin of Nudge's shoulder absentmindedly. "I mean, you're annoying as hell sure, but you're like a huge zit in the middle of someone's face. At first you're a pain in the butt, but eventually you grow on them."

"Ari!" Nudge elbowed Ari in the ribs. "That's not a very nice thing to say to your girlfriend!"

Ari rolled his eyes. "Whatever, sweetheart. You know you love me."

Nudge scoffed. "You're so full of yourself." She retorted back. "And stop sidetracking me, seriously what are we gonna do?"

"Just tell her. It's not that hard."

"Why don't _you _tell her then?"

"Because I live with her." Ari said simply. "I don't want to get bitch slapped every time I bump into her in the corridor."

"You'd probably get slapped anyway if I told her."

"Yes, but if _you _tell her, I'd at least have some time to hide."

"I don't know how to tell her though. I don't want her to hate me. She's gonna be so disappointed." Nudge mumbled into Ari's chest.

He tightened his grip around her, kissing the top of her head gently. "She's your best friend, Nudge. She'll understand."

"Hmm, I guess so." Nudge said, but she couldn't help but think otherwise.

* * *

><p>Max frowned to herself, balancing her school bag on her knees as she stared out the window of the bus. Ari was busy doing something after school again (by "doing" something, Max assumed it was some girl) and her dad had some important meeting to attend to so she was stuck taking the bus. Again.<p>

She sighed and blew a curl of hair out of her face. Suddenly, the bus jolted over a bump in the road and lurched Max forward. She steadied herself but a wave of nausea came over her, stabbing her painfully in the stomach.

She closed her eyes and swallowed, taking a few shaky breaths. Her head throbbed badly. She'd been getting these dizzy/wanna throw up spells for a couple of weeks but she just assumed that she had caught a bug or something, no biggie.

_But what if I'm relapsing? _A small, pesky voice said at the back of her mind. She quickly pushed the thought away. Even if she _were _relapsing, well she had a checkup at the hospital coming up in a couple of weeks so there was no point in worrying about it until then.

Not wanting to think about it anymore, her thoughts trailed to Fang. She smiled a little – her _boyfriend. _She'd never had a boyfriend before, well not a real one anyway. She just went on dates before then, most of them ending awkwardly when the guy didn't know what to say or do because of the whole "cancer" thing.

But Fang, Fang got it. He understood that yes, cancer was a big part of Max's life but no, it wasn't her whole life. She actually wanted to talk about other things besides a huge pity talk about her life story battling cancer.

_And he was easy on the eyes too. _Max thought, blushing, _which always helps. _Although, lately Max was beginning to worry about Fang. He always looked rather pale and sickly, like it was a huge effort even standing. Like he would topple over if the slightest gust of wind came along.

She assumed he must be stressed about his parents' and the whole divorce thing. She decided to talk to him about it later, she hated seeing him in pain and obviously every day was a constant struggle for him.

She could tell by the expressions on his face, by the way he trudged behind Max on their way to class, how he avoided going to lunch and hid in the library or the computer labs or wherever. He needed help and if Max couldn't give it to him, then what kind of girlfriend was she?

She _would _help him through this.

Suddenly, the world seemed to spin on its side, pulling Max to the floor. She toppled over in her seat, hard, but luckily she went headfirst into the soft back of the chair in front of her. Breathing heavily, her eyes darted around the bus frantically, searching for a spot on the wall that _wasn't _moving.

How could she help Fang when she couldn't even help herself?

* * *

><p><strong>Dear reader,<strong>

**My internet is being a butt and I can't get onto it on my iPod OR laptop, so I have to go onto the family computer to do all my stuff. It's really awkward 'cos everyone's always looking over my shoulder =.=' Like, what if I wanna look at porn? (not that I do *****shifty eyes*****)**

**Yeah, so what do you think? Love it, hate it? What do you think Nudge should do? Is Max getting sick again or is she just overreacting? And when will Fang realize that he's sick, it's not just something he can turn on and off?**

**Leave your response in the review thingy below ^_^**

**So turns out, I **_**didn't **_**eat any of you guys pancreases (too lazy last chapter, doesn't mean I won't do it again though :D)**

**Necrophobia :)**


	11. The chocolate donuts

**The chocolate donuts**

"Hey, Max?" Nudge said slowly. After weeks of her conscious bugging her combined with Ari's constant assurance that Max wouldn't care less, as well as Gazzy pestering her about how she never hung out with him anymore because she was too busy with her "secret boyfriend", she had finally plucked up the courage to tell Max of her and Ari's … relationship.

They were in English class and the teacher had yet again decided the best way to get the class excited and engaged about the topic was to drone on about it in a consistent monotone.

_You can do this,_ Nudge thought to herself, breathing in deeply. _Nice and easy, like a bandaid. Or was a bandaid quick and painless? _She shook her head - she was getting off track. She gulped. _Just get it over and done with._

"H-hey, Max?" she stuttered, biting on her lip.

"Yeah?" Max said while doodling in her notebook.

_You can do this._ "Well you know how –"

"Do you think there's something wrong with Fang?" Max interrupted Nudge, frowning down at the English notes she had half-hearted scribbled into her notebook.

"What?" Nudge asked, surprised at the sudden topic change. "Well maybe, he's been acting rather strange lately but anyway, what I was trying to say was –"

"I think he might be taking the whole divorce thing with his parents a little hard, don't you?" Max continued, ignoring Nudge's attempt to veer the conversation back on topic.

Nudge sighed internally. "Uh, yeah I guess so."

"I think we should try to talk to him, you know? Urrgh, it just bugs me – seeing him so depressed all the time – and I don't know how to fix it. I mean, I'm his girlfriend for crying out loud, shouldn't I be able to cheer my boyfriend up when he's sad?"

Nudge thought about it. "I guess - why don't you just go down on him, it's guaranteed to turn that frown upside down – and a couple of _other_ things up too, if you know what I mean." Nudge hinted crudely, winking at Max.

"Eww, Nudge!" Max shoved Nudge and wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Gosh, you sound just like Ari – I hope he's not starting to rub off on you."

"Yeah, uh about that –" Nudge started, bracing herself to get the secret off her chest that she had been keeping for months.

"Ooh, crap." Max suddenly winced, squeezing her eyes shut and rubbing her forehead vigorously.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?" Nudge asked, concerned.

"Headache." Max replied shortly through gritted teeth.

Nudge frowned. "You've been getting a tonne of headaches lately – I think you should get it checked out or something."

"Oh no, it's fine." Max waved a hand dismissively. "I've probably just caught a bug or something – my immune system never _did _go back to its former glory days after all the chemo. And besides, I've got a check up at the hospital next week so there's no point in worrying about it anyway."

"I guess so." Nudge frowned in concern at Max. Nudge looked up at Max with wide eyes, concerned. Max had been getting a lot of these so called "headaches" lately - and she looked a lot paler too. Nudge didn't know what she'd do if Max - well, she rather wouldn't think about it. "Just don't die on me, okay? I've barely known you for a year - I'm not ready to give you up. I mean, there's so much we still haven't done together - we never saw Paris!"

Max smiled. "Sure thing, Nudge. And honestly, _I'm fine - _I just have a low tolerance to pain, that's all" They gave each other an awkward side hug, then went back to listening to the teacher drone on in silence.

"Oh, what did you want to tell me again?" Max asked, turning to Nudge.

Nudge looked at Max's face - all the trust and friendship shining in her big brown eyes. How could she possibly destroy something so wonderful? And besides, Max had her own problems to deal with - what with Fang being distant and her mysterious "headaches". She didn't need a secret relationship thrown into the mix.

All the courage that Nudge had gathered in order to tell Max melted away. She cleared her throat.

"Uh, nothing." She replied, averting her eyes from Max's shining ones.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Fang." Max said as she bounded towards Fang and plopped herself down into the empty spot on the bench next to him. It was after school and since she hadn't had any classes with Fang for the whole day, she thought she'd come see him at the bus stop where she knew he waited every day.<p>

He turned his head from gazing mindlessly into space and pulled his earphones out. "Hi," He half smiled at her.

"I feel like I haven't seen you in _forever_!" Max exclaimed.

Fang smirked. "You saw me this morning."

"Yeah, but you're my boyfriend - I absolutely _have_ to see you every five seconds or I'll spontaneously combust and die." She said, her eyes wide.

Fang snorted. "Oh really?"

Max gave Fang a "no duh" look. "Yeah - it's a medical condition. I've been tested."

Fang smiled down at Max. "You're cute when you make that face." He pecked her lightly on the lips.

Max grinned up at him. "I try." She said, shrugging.

Her stomach suddenly rumbled loudly, making both of them look down at the source of the noise.

"Urrgh, I'm starving." Max said, opening up her backpack and rummaging through it.

_You don't know the meaning of the word "starving", _Fang thought dryly to himself.

"I haven't eaten since lunchtime." Max continued as she looked through her bag. "I mean, I'm a growing girl, I have needs!"

"Mmm," Fang grunted, staring at Max, wondering what it would be like to be allowed to eat lunch and something else all in the same day.

"Aha!" Max said as she produced a bright red lunchbox from her bag. She opened up the lid and took out a large donut covered thickly in chocolate icing, littered with rainbow sprinkles from the stack of donuts inside.

She took a large bite. "Mmm," She moaned, closing her eyes. "Chocolate - my favourite." Fang could only watch, mesmerised as Max continued to eat the calorie-packed baked good.

"You want some?" Max took out another donut from her lunchbox and waved it at him, still munching on the other clutched in her hand.

Fang looked at the pastry in Max's hand. The sugary icing glistened in the dull fluorescent lights of the street lamps (it was a cloudy day so they had turned on automatically), the golden brown dough soft and fluffy. The faint smell of sugar and warmth wafted into his nostrils and his mouth watered.

His stomach gurgled softly, painfully, yearningly. He hadn't eaten since yesterday morning (half an apple = 40) and he was ravenous. Surely _one donut _wouldn't do any harm. After all, he'd been so good -he deserved a reward. He started to reach towards the donut slowly, already tasting the heavenly sweetness of the sugary pastry.

Suddenly the numbers flashed before his eyes.

280. 280. _280. Not worth it._

He retracted his fingers. "No thanks." He said, biting his lip. "I had a big lunch,"

"Suit yourself." Max said, popping the rest of her donut into her mouth and starting on the one she had offered Fang.

Fang stared at Max, wondering how she could eat so much (280+280=560) and yet still be skinnier than him. She ate more in one meal than he did for a whole week. He didn't understand. What made him so different from her? Why did he have to try so hard to be thin and yet she did so effortlessly?

He rubbed his temples, closing his eyes. He was so damn _tired_. Sometimes he thought about giving up, about stopping, about leaving this all behind. It seemed so easy, so inviting to go back to not caring about what he weighed down to the last gram, not measuring out every single calorie he consumed, not checking his body naked in front of the full length mirror in his room to make sure in case a rogue inch of fat had somehow made its way onto his body.

At the thought of finally being free from all this, of going back to how his life used to be when it was not dominated by numbers and mirrors and the endless, endless counting made Fang want to stop immediately.

But then, one look at his reflection in the mirror, one glance at the number on the scale, one a glimpse at the way his thighs looked in certain pairs of his jeans - all these little reminders throughout the day of how much of a whale he was - got him back on track.

"Are you okay?" Max asked, concerned. "You've gone awfully quiet." She leaned in to kiss him but he pulled away (he couldn't risk accidentally ingesting any rouge calories still lingering on Max's lips from the donuts she had eaten).

He looked away. "I'm fine_."_

* * *

><p><strong>Dear reader,<strong>

**I don't know what to say - I could bore you with all the excuses and reasons as to why I haven't updated in so long, but you'd probably just skim read over it :P lol, I haven't been on fanfiction so long that I didn't even know about the whole new cover image thingy for your story! So cool :3**

**I'm pretty sure I know where I want this story to go - it's all planned out in my head, I just need to actually write it out. The ending has already manifested into this awesome scene in my head - I'm so excited to write it out. I just hope I don't get too lazy and never get around to doing it =_='**

**What'd you think? Will Nudge ever tell Max? Will Fang ever get better? a;dlfkajsdf **

**Review. Favourite. Alert. All that jazz. C'mon - you know you wanna :P**

**Trolol,**

**Necrophobia :)**


	12. The coldness

**The coldness**

"Ari, we can't – I haven't even told Max yet and – " Nudge was cut off by Ari's lips capturing her own.

They were in Nudge's bedroom (her parents weren't at home), making out on her bed. Ari's buff, macho-man like physique and boyish face looked out of place amidst the lavish shades of pink wallpaper, the lacy bedspread and the collection of teddy bears piled high upon the bookshelves.

"Aw, Nudge - why do you always have to bring my sister up when we're making out?" Ari grumbled, nibbling at Nudge's bottom lip. "It's such a turn off. I mean," He started trailing kisses from Nudges lips to her cheek, and started making his way down her neck. "If you're into chicks, that's okay, I can work with that - but my _sister?_ Really?"

"Ari!" Nudge half scoffed, half moaned as Ari's kisses started trailing further down into her unbuttoned shirt. "You _know_ what I mean!"

Ari sighed and stopped kissing Nudge. She moaned in protest and squirmed from under him. "Hey! I didn't say _stop_."

"Look Nudge," He gazed into her brown eyes. Unlike Max's dark chocolate ones, Nudge's were a shade of light brown, lighting up her dark face and hair, like the warmth from candles on a birthday cake - like _sparklers_, whenever she got really excited about something. "Nudge, if you don't want to go all the way with me - that's fine. Contrary to what Max says about me, I'm not a total sex-crazed man whore as she'll have you believe. If you're not ready, I'm totally cool with it."

Nudge started to interrupt him, but he place a finger on her plump lips. "But if you're not going through with it purely because you haven't told my sister about us, well frankly, I think that's bullshit. Seriously, what are you - five? You're not in primary school anymore, where you simply _have _to go tattle to your BFFL about the boy you held hands with for five whole seconds at recess the other day. Make your _own _decisions, don't let people make them for you."

"But Max -"

"No."

"But I -"

"No."

"Urrgh. How do you know what I'm going to say if I haven't even said it yet?" Nudge huffed, crossing her arms.

"You know." Ari drawled slowly, his gaze flickering down to Nudge's arms. "When you cross your arms like that, your boobs look really big."

"Ew! You big pervert! You're not supposed to tell your _girlfriend _that!" Nudge scoffed, slapping Ari playfully on his bare chest. Before she could pull her hand away from his chest, he shot out his hand and held it there.

"You feel that?" Ari breathed softly. "That's my heartbeat. And guess what? It's beating for you, baby, only for you."

"Bahahahahahahahaha!" Nudge burst out laughing.

Ari frowned at her.

After a few minutes, Nudge had finally calmed down enough to make coherent sentences. "Wait." She wiped a tear from her eye, looking at Ari's pissed off expression. "Were you actually _serious?"_

Ari glared at her. "I thought that if I said something super cheesy, I'd get laid. Chicks love that shit, don't they?"

"Oh, Ari." Nudge smiled, shaking her head. "Firstly, you have to know where to draw to line at cheesy-romantic, and just plain tacky." She started to stroke his cheek softly, running her fingers over the prickly stubble. "And secondly, that." She said, placing her hand where he had held it to his chest previously. "Is not even where your heart is. It's on your _right _side, you stupid butt hole!"

"But I'm _your_ butt hole." Ari smiled through Nudge's fingers as she traced his lips.

"Yeah, and I love my butt hole." Nudge smiled down at him, placing her lips on his.

"Ari?" Nudge whispered.

"Yeah?" He whispered back.

"You, you wanna, _do _it?"

He was silent for a few moments.

"I-I mean, you don't have to do this – it's totally cool." Nudge stuttered, blushing madly at her sudden boldness.

"No, no - I most definitely, positively want to, but." He looked Nudge dead in the eye. "Are you ready?"

"Yes," she whispered softly, afraid that if she spoke to loudly, she would break the sudden seriousness of the situation. But it was a good serious. Not the kind that you faced in the principal's office when they called your parents, or when you'd managed to set the kitchen curtain's on fire while trying to cook pancakes for your mum's birthday.

The type of seriousness that occurred just before something magical happened.

_Now that,_ Nudge thought, _was cheesy._

* * *

><p>Cold. He was always cold.<p>

His hands, his fingers, his arms, legs, feet _everywhere._ No matter how many layers he wore, no matter how close he got to the heater – close enough to burn his skin - the bitterness of even the slightest wind sent shivers running through his body.

And it wasn't just the type of cold that makes you feel frozen on the outside either. It was the type that invades your insides, chilling your blood, icicles lodging themselves between your heartstrings, making it impossible for him to ever, _truly_ feel warm.

It felt as though icy water had seeped into his chest, freezing the spaces between his ribs, encasing his heart in a block of ice. He hated it. Why was he so cold anyway? Surely the fat that hung off his limbs was more than enough to ward off the slightly cool autumn breeze?

Fang shivered and kept walking, crossing his arms tightly against his chest in an attempt to retain as much body heat as possible. Though he felt freezing most days - the slightest whisper of wind could cut through his skin like a razor blade - he still persisted in wearing nothing but a thin baggy shirt and jeans. Countless times he had been on the verge of putting on a thick, wooly jumper or fleecy hoodie, but then he remembered that you burn more calories when you're cold and he stopped in his tracks (he had learned this tip on one of the various diet websites he had visited in the depths of night, when his parents were asleep, and the boredom of completing fifty sets of star jumps required something more substantial to look at than wallpaper).

He sighed internally. He was walking back from school now - he had long ago stopped taking the bus (why waste precious time _and _money on a bus ride when calories could be burned and money could be saved on something as simple as walking home?). Another day he had survived school, avoiding the concerned stares of his girlfriend and friends. Another day of non-stop exercise and counting and eating and not eating. _Another. Bloody. Day._

To be honest, he was getting tired of the constant cycle of the scale dictating whether he ate for the day or not, how much exercise he had to do, if he could sit still in class or fidget constantly in attempt to dispel excess calories, how much time he had for homework and TV and friends that hadn't already been allocated to exercising or surfing the net for diet tips or holing himself up in his room, wishing he was someone else, _anyone else._

_This _dominated his life now. And he hated it. But he loved it too.

Suddenly, Fang felt as though the world had began to spin.

_Shit._ For what felt like the umpteenth time that day, Fang began to feel faint. He blinked, black spots clouding his vision every time he opened his eyes. He kept walking - no need to stop and recover from one of his numerous dizzy spells - he'd had more than enough of them to know that within a minute or two, they soon vanished. _Just keep walking. You'll be fine._

But this time, it didn't go away. Instead, the mind numbing dizziness only intensified, making Fang's head more and more sensory impaired.

The world lurched upside down, the bluish sky littered with drifting dull gold leaves rotating in endless circles, the cracked cement pavement pulling Fang forcefully towards it.

He felt a dull pain on his right temple, warmth trickle down his face and onto the ground. He drew in a shaky breath and tried, painstakingly, slowly, to lift himself back onto his feet. But to no avail.

The darkness took hold of him before he had the chance.

* * *

><p><strong>Dear reader,<strong>

**Yeah, so I think we've established that I'm the type of FF author who does not happen to update regularly. However, we _can _agree on the point that the quality makes up for the lack of updating, eh? Nice try? Meh, worth a shot :3**

**Hey, don't blame me - I'm kinda busy with growing up (all you 11-14 year olds better be grateful you're so young - I wish _I_ was young ;_;) and starting my first part time job (omfg I actually have a job - note to parents, I'm not a _complete_ waste of space ^^).**

**Sorry for any inconsistencies or errors or if things don't make sense or whatever - I'm sleepy, gimme a break :S Please inform me of my mistakes and I will try correct them as soon as possible before anyone else can notice my devastatingly stupid shiz I typed :P**

**So what's going to happen next? Will Max ever find out about Nudge and Ari? What's gonna happen to Fang?**

**Fav, review, follow - all that lovely stuff. I will love you forever (´∀｀) **

**See youse,**

**Necrophobia :)**


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